The Fate of A Trapped Soul
by Dragon Adept
Summary: Sequel to Golden Sun The Lost Age. A lot of light humor that's gotten rave reviews in the beginning. However, Alex is alive and seeks to realize his plan of conquering all Weyard. Guess who stands in his way...
1. Prologue

Welcome and thank you for coming to my fanfic!

I hope you'll enjoy it and I'll stop wasting your time right... now.

The Fate Of A Trapped Soul

Prologue:

Alex awoke and took in his surroundings. An expansive room made of smooth pale green stone with a high, vaulted ceiling surrounded him. Light streamed in from the windows, but were they windows? Alex stood up to examine them closer and a bolt of pain shot through his very soul. It was as if he had mortally wounded every part of his body. He fell back to the floor and began to lose consciousness again. "No!" He screamed to himself. "That brat Isaac still has half of the Stone of Sages!" He thought. "The half he took from me." He whispered.

"I mustn't succumb to the pain!" Desperation seized him as he cast about in his mind for something to distract him. "What was I looking at? The windows!" He returned his gaze skyward and found that they were not just windows. They were panels of glass sure enough, but the light coming from them wasn't from outside, it was being emitted by the glass through some form of psynergy. "They're too bright. I can't look through them. I want to see!" Without thinking about it, he raised his hand and willed the light to stop.

A dark patch appeared in the middle of the pane his hand was facing. Alex stood and looked into it; the pain now all but forgotten. From the surrounding light of the pane he could see into the dark patch. But all he saw was dirt, dirt and rubble. It was piled against the window, and still had air pockets in it. It was as if a giant had scooped up a handful of earth and tossed it against the glass. "Buried alive…" His voice echoed into the emptiness of the room.

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Creepy huh? First chapter coming up soon. Stay tuned!


	2. And so it Begins

Chapter 1:

The eight young warriors had all stayed for a time to start the reconstruction of Vale. Once the new houses had roofs however, three left to resume their pursuits elsewhere. Sheba's current whereabouts are unknown. She had always said how she was not fond of the captivity she had been forced into as an icon in Lalivero, and made it a point that she would never return there. Even tough it pained her to be unable to say goodbye to Faran. She took Ivan and the Teleport Lapis with her to Contigo to try to find more clues to her past. After a week in Contigo, she disappeared in the Anemos Sanctum.

All that was found was a newly opened secret passage that led to an empty room with a teleport symbol on the floor. In its center was a note to Faran that said, in a word, goodbye. When Faran received it, he refused to accept the news and ordered a brigade of his finest soldiers be dispatched immediately to search the Sanctum. He was later dissuaded from doing so by Ivan and sister Hamma, who both said that they "Had a feeling that Sheba found what she was looking for." After delivering the pair to Contigo, Piers took his ship back to Lemuria where he found that there was a hero's welcome waiting for the former exile. He now sails with the best and brightest of the Lemurian Navy.

The rest of the group determined that they would stay in Vale. Jenna, Felix, Isaac, and Garet all had an obvious reason for staying in Vale. As natives, they were home. Mia however, had a slightly different motivation. She said that she remained because Imli no longer needed her due to the well of Hermes' water. Everyone else knew that she was doing it because she had developed a crush on Garet. She thought that she was keeping it a secret, but the only person in Vale who didn't know was, well… Garet. And Garet not being the most perceptive of individuals, it was unlikely that he would ever find out. Especially since the others were evasive about the topic while Garet was around. An unspoken consensus had been reached that Mia would be the one to tell him, when she was ready.

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Ok. Everyone in th GS frame of mind? Now I can really get into it.


	3. The lives of our heroes

Chapter 2:

Four years had passed since that fateful day. And to everyone's delight, the word "normal" was becoming more and more applicable to life in Vale. The five remaining heroes have settled into their roles in town. To his Father's dismay, Garet has opened a restaurant in the center of town, far and away from following in the footsteps of the town Mayor. Yet his disappointment abates when he gets the chance to have one of Garet's meals. Cooking is one of the few things Garet applies his mind to, and the rest of the villagers couldn't be more thankful. Though they learned quickly that, if they wanted anything other than really well done, they would order raw packaged meat and cook it themselves. Everyone orders rare even though they know they won't get it. No one has ordered a well done steak from Garet in years, and travelers have been warned not to ever since Felix ordered one and heard the word "SUPERNOVA!" coming from the kitchen. The following day, a "Closed for Repairs" sign appeared on the door for two weeks.

Isaac was never satisfied with this return to normalcy. He knew the threat that alchemy posed to the world. This was the reasoning behind his decision to join Kraden in his continuing research of alchemy. The basement laboratory of Kraden's home was one of few structures to survive the collapse of Mount Aleph. This was very fortunate, as its survival preserved a lifetime of notes and research. Once Kraden's home was rebuilt on top of the remaining foundation, the pair set to work.

The release of alchemy was not as earth-shattering as the legends purported it to be. The erosion of Gaia Falls had ceased, and the stagnated civilizations of Weyard had begun to advance and flourish once again. The changes were subtle though, as if an obstacle to progress had been removed, humanity was not instantly rocketed into a new Golden Age, as was expected. But if there was one dramatic change that all of Vale could take notice of, it was the one that took place in Kraden.

One would think that Kraden would be ready to retire. After all, he was kidnapped and led across Gondowan in chains, and he chased eight young heroes all across Weyard through dungeons, forests, and deserts… he had seen the entire world on the open sea. That might've been enough for the old Kraden, but now he craved adventure as much as he did knowledge. Kraden was often away on expeditions into the Aleph Basin. He hiked the foothills and explored the great cracks in the ground. It was thanks to his work that parts of the outer edges of Sol Sanctum were discovered. The survival of those few room was a great testament to the legacy of the last Golden Age. Kraden was often gone for days at a time, sometimes close to a week, but he always returned with an excited grin and something he dug up from the Sanctum Ruins. Kraden's home and laboratory became filled with the spoils of his expeditions. Fractured stone slates, pottery, and all manner of artifacts covered every surface of his home. It always amazed Isaac to see someone so old so giddy with excitement. Isaac hoped that he would be like that someday and, it appeared, so did Kraden. Kraden did his best not to interrupt Isaac's studies, always entering the room and waiting for Isaac to notice him, and he always enlisted Garet or Felix whenever he needed heavy lifting done. They became quite the pair over the years.

People may quibble over Mia's reasons for staying, but everyone is glad she's there. Mia is the self-appointed caretaker of the Djinn. She lives in a steel-walled bastion known affectionately as "the Fortress." It took a combined effort of Isaac, Felix, Jenna and Garet almost a month to construct and is the only building in Vale capable of containing the energetic creatures. By the same token, it's been said that Mia is the only person in Vale who can control them all. Mia was capable of both loving kindness and iron-fisted discipline, and managed to keep them all in line. Roll call was essential at the Fortress. Many of them were masterful escape artists and they would turn up in odd places every so often. Chests of drawers, shoes… they found their way into everything. A popular destination was Garet's kitchen. Once, Garet walked into the Fortress holding a flour-caked Zephyr by the wing and scolding "You were this close to being a muffin!" Despite his toleration of the Djinn in his kitchen, Mia has repeatedly denied Garet's requests to borrow all 18 Mars djinn. She didn't know what he was up to, but she knew it was a bad idea. (She was right; Garet was planning to cook an entire cow to save time.)

Jenna ran relief shifts for her, because she liked to study with the healers of the Sanctum occasionally to keep her healing abilities honed, "Just in case." You could always tell when Jenna was minding the Fortress, there were a great many more explosions coming from it. Jenna was a lot more iron-fisted and less nurturing than Mia was. Either of them could be seen now and again, chasing colored streaks across town.

Apart from allowing Mia a respite from her lot in life, Jenna adventured with Kraden when there were areas that required some agility to get to. Kraden was spirited, but by no means as young as he once was. She never had to worry about torches too. While helping to build the Fortress, she discovered her talent for metalworking. As she sharpened her skills, (And her weapons) it wasn't long before she had a smith shop, and buyers as far away as Tolbi. She invented many exclusive weapons that were sought around the world. As word and shipment of her weapons spread, she began wrapping the handles of her weapons with leather dyed pink, and topped the hilts of her finest signature works with a lock of her deep purple hair. She felt that it was imperative that she squelch the stories of the great _man_ in Vale that made such fine weapons. It was a sight to behold, a legion of Tolbi's finest, all wielding pink battleaxes. Their opponents snickered until they saw the power of the weapons in battle.

Like Isaac, Felix feared for the future of Weyard. He kept close tabs on the effect of alchemy. He noted that it had given nearly everyone in the world psynergy, but not a lot of it. As Kraden summed it up, everyone on Weyard had "A few party tricks and a lot of potential." Kraden had hit the nail on the head. Most people could channel psynergy items, and some had a few mundane uses for their meager psynergy. The world was full of Mars adepts that could toast bread, Mercury adepts that could shield themselves from the rain and the like, but very few who were not adepts before alchemy were interested in training their abilities.

Felix knew that this was a problem. Such adepts could not contend with the threat that alchemy posed to Weyard. He recognized that what Kraden about potential was also quite true. They had psynergetic ability about equal to his when he left Prox with Saturos and Menardi, but they couldn't focus their power with their mind. They had been instantly made into adepts, unlike the previous generation that had been born that way. Felix had had the chance to let his powers grow with him, and over the years he had developed an innate sense for the earth and how to affect it with his mind. The new generation had their power thrust upon them instantly, so they had difficulty controlling and focusing their power. So Felix made up his mind to compensate for their inexperience by founding Weyard's first Adept Academy since the last Golden Age.

He already knew how to be vigilant of Earth's unstable nature. However, adepts of other elements might come to learn at his academy and he possessed little insight into the other elements, but he knew people that did. Felix spent days in Vale's sanctum, listening to the wisdom of the great healers and interviewing the Jupiter adept there. He learned of wind's fickle nature, and the importance of speed and accuracy when fighting with it. Jenna taught him how fire required a firm hand, and how it wouldn't respect you if you didn't command it with authority. Mia let him borrow some of the ancient tomes that she brought from the Imli Sanctum. She told him about how a Mercury Adept must walk the tightrope between water's great healing and destructive power, and how water psynergy is as much teamwork between adept and element as it is one's mastery over water. It wasn't long before word spread about the Academy and Felix had students coming in from all over Weyard; some curious about their new abilities, some wanting to be heroes like Felix, some wanting to meet girls… But no matter, Felix could tell almost instantly who was serious and who wasn't. That dedication was his only enrollment requirement.

All was well in Vale. Isaac was working on deciphering some runes on a piece of stone pillar that Kraden had brought him. He felt a sudden tremor in the Earth. The concrete walls around him acted like a resonating chamber to bring the tremor to his ears. He wasn't sure if he had felt the vibrations in the ground or he had sensed it with his Venus psynergy, but he knew it was different. He had felt calamitous crashes from rocks falling in Aleph Basin, the ones that made him worry about Kraden. "He has been away for a long time." Isaac thought. He worried constantly about Kraden. Jenna said that Kraden knew what he was doing, and that Isaac should stop giving himself gray hairs over it. He worried just the same. Especially since this was nothing like a normal quake, not loud at all, but it still held all the power of a raging avalanche. This was the Earth heaving with some great unrest. "The Earth is trying to communicate…" He thought. "It's trying to tell me that there's someth-"Felix burst through the door at the top of the stairs. They exchanged a glace that confirmed Isaac's suspicion. "You felt it too." Isaac said, knowing the answer was yes. "Aye, and so did a handful of my students." Felix replied gravely. They both said "Something is very wrong."

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Wow. These expository chapters go fast, but they're a lot of fun! Read+respond and such...


	4. Crisis

The two stared at each other, unsure of what to do. A moment that felt like an eon had passed before Felix asked "Well what was that? You're the expert!" Isaac wasn't sure what he was getting at. "I'm no more skilled at identifying earthquakes than you, Felix." "Not earthquakes, Alchemy!" Felix retorted indignantly. "What makes you so sure that it's Alchemy?" Isaac asked, just as the answer came to him. The only time Isaac had ever felt a quake like that was when he was little, when Saturos' raiding party had disturbed Sol Sanctum.

"It came from Aleph Basin." Felix said, breaking Isaac out of his reminiscence. "Perhaps we should start there." "All right," Isaac agreed. "But we can't cover the whole basin by ourselves. We'll have to get the rest of the gang together." Felix nodded. "Agreed. Did Jenna go with Kraden on this one?" Isaac thought for a moment. "No Kraden left alone on this one." He had forgotten about Kraden, if he was up in the Basin he could be in trouble or hurt or… "Good." Felix once again snapped Isaac back to attention. "I'll get Jenna from the shop. You go to the Fortress and get Mia. We'll meet at Garet's and explain everything to them. That Felix… he always had a plan. "Isaac! Are you paying attention? I swear your mind has become just as lofty as Kraden's ever since you started hanging out with him." "Yes Felix, I'll go get Mia." He said as he stood up, unfazed by Felix's outburst. "Good." Felix then turned and walked out of the doorway. Isaac slowly climbed the stairs. "I just hope he has a plan for what we'll do once we're all together."

Outside it was a bright clear day. Everything looked and felt perfectly normal. Were it not for their years of apprehension about Alchemy, Isaac and Felix might've brushed off the quake, but they knew better. Isaac continued on to the Fortress alone as Felix left for town. The trail to the Fortress was not well worn. It was a place most tended to avoid. Rumors circulated among travelers about its being haunted, for there were always small blasts, squeals, crashes and all sorts of calamity coming from it. But even walking on what appeared to be a patch of grass more than a trail, Isaac found it hard to miss. Its towering steel walls stood in sharp contrast to the wooden houses with thatched roofs in town. As he approached Isaac noticed that the walls were dented outward in places from years of abuse by the Djinn. Isaac knocked at the door. (He had once learned the hard way that this was the appropriate action, even though Mia welcomed visitors.)

He received no answer other than the usual calamity from inside. He would've waited, but he knew that this was urgent so he opened the door. As Isaac shoved against the door, lightning bolts glanced off the opposite side as it hit an airborne Blitz. A handful of Djinn on the floor looked at Isaac as though they might attack, but they recognized him and went about their business. Blitz fluttered around Isaac's head demanding an apology. "Who do you think you are busting in like this Isaac? I could've been really hurt!" "I know Mia told you not to fly near the door!" Joked Isaac. "Well you don't have to be such a snot about it!" Blitz soon lost interest and flew off. The carefree chaos of the Fortress lightened Isaac's mood, but he suddenly remembered the task at hand.

Isaac called for Mia and strode across the room; various Djinn jumping on top of his boots, swinging on his cape, asking him questions and the like. He stopped at the large sign-out board on the wall. There were 72 tiles on it, each representing a Djinni that slid into slots on either the "In" or "Out" side. They had taken Felix's students two weeks to make. "Mia always ran this place like a library." Isaac thought. And she had to, keeping any semblance of order required Mia's full attention. Isaac knew that she had to be here. She never left without someone to replace her. He checked in the four adjoining rooms, again, divided by element. Isaac had to admire Mia's efforts to cater to the desires of her charge. A sandbox in the Venus room, a swimming pool in the Mercury room, an expansive aviary for Jupiter, and, "is that a pot of molten lead?" The next room held a large pewter vat over a fire. Isaac couldn't help investigating. He walked into the room and looked into the pot. It was indeed filled with liquid metal. Isaac gazed at his reflection in the shimmering surface. The visage that stare beck at him was disturbed by Scorch coming up for air. Its eyes brightened when it looked up. "Hi Isaac!" it squealed before diving back under. Isaac grinned. He could see how Mia could take all the insanity. These little guys were just what you needed to brighten your day.

"You know you shouldn't disturb them while they're bathing" Mia had appeared in the doorway behind Isaac. "If Fury is in there he'll fry you!" Isaac turned to face her. "Thanks for the advice." Mia tried to calm the injured Venus Djinni in her hands. "Echo, I told you not to bother Serac. He's got a temper and likes to be left alone." She turned back to Isaac. "Whatever it is, it will have to wait." Isaac understood. There was no way to pry her away when a Djinni needed her. "No real harm done though, just don't let in happen again, you hear me?" Echo nodded. She cast a quick ply and gave Echo one last check before sending it on its way.

"Can you come with me for a minute?" Isaac asked. Mia looked almost afraid of the prospect. "Oh Isaac," she sighed. "You know I can't just leave. I have to-" Isaac interrupted her. He knew that she was about to launch into a long list of things that she had to do today. "Mia, it's important." Mia thought for a moment. She knew that Isaac was serious. He wasn't the type to jerk people around. "Okay, what is it?" She asked. "I can't talk now. It'll be easier to explain when we're all together." Now she knew something was up. If Isaac needed all five of them for something, it had to be big… and probably dangerous. Mia finally looked up and said "I'll see what I can do."

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Ok, not action packed exactly, but we're making progress. Yes it'll be a couple chapters before anything really cool happens, but I need some breathing room to develop my characterizations. If you have anything to say right now, say it! At this point I'll even accept "0.0 yays U! Great fic1!11!1 :)" Anyway, 'till next time...


	5. Meeting at Garet's

Chapter 4:

Mia reluctantly prepared to leave the Fortress with Isaac. She had gathered all the Djinn in the center room and half-begged half-ordered them to behave. The Djinn could sense her worry, and knew that something was up. A consensus was made not to do anything rash until this crisis was over. Nonetheless, years of experience had taught Mia that she should say something before leaving. Isaac would never forget that little speech. "All right everyone," she said as she addressed the masses. "I'm going away for awhile. I know this is sudden, and we all remember what happened last time." She and a few Djinn glanced over to a corner at the far side of the room that was covered in cracks and scorch marks. "I need you all to beha…" The eyes of her audience began to glaze and she thought better of it. "Well at least don't destroy anything." She then appointed four Djinn as chief of their respective element. Isaac's favorite was Spark. It looked like he had been waiting all his life for this moment. He was so happy he jumped up and hit his head on the ceiling. "Do we have to listen to _him?_" A Djinni in the crowd groaned. "Yes you do Coal. Goodbye everyone." It was quite a sight to see them all waving their fins and wings and tails and whatever else to say goodbye to Mia.

The pair started the short walk to town. Mia had resumed her efforts to find out what was going on, the Djinn she had left behind still fresh in her mind.

"Will you at least tell me where we're going Isaac?"

He saw no harm in that. "We're going to meet Felix and Jenna at the restaurant in town."

"You mean Garet's restaurant?"

Isaac had hoped to avoid the mention of Garet. "Yes." He sighed.

Mia brightened at that, all worries about the Djinn pushed from her mind. "Oh wonderful! It's been awhile since I've seen Garet. I just love his…"

Isaac could see that she had realized what she was about to say.

"Um… cooking! Yes, he is such a fantastic cook isn't he?"

Isaac said nothing for fear that he would laugh. She was so hopeless. Other than her soft spot for Garet, Mia was one of the most rational people he knew. Yet all efforts were lost on getting her to deal with her feelings for Garet. Hints had been dropped by various well-meaning friends, but she either missed or ignored them, it was hard to tell. Isaac wondered about the morality of keeping Mia's crush a secret from Garet, and about how he kept his knowledge of it secret from Mia. It was popularly agreed upon, but was it really right? "Isaac? Isaac, we're here."

Lost in his thoughts, Isaac hadn't noticed where his feet had carried him. He now stood before a large building with a high roof. It matched all the buildings around it in style, but it was much larger, to accommodate mealtime crowds. Over the door was a wooden plank, as wide as the door, with the word "Garet's" burned into the surface. "He always was a wizard with creative nomenclature." Isaac thought. He noticed a new sign as he approached the doors. It was again, wood burnt, but it was a square of wood that listed the hours in small writing with perfect edges. "We're in luck!" Isaac thought. "It'll be closing time in about half an hour and well get to have Garet here without any distraction." Isaac disliked explaining things to Garet multiple times, though he seemed to end up doing it quite a lot. Isaac noticed that this one was a sharp contrast to the sign above the door, which had char marks going as much of an inch beyond the intended edges. Also burnt in were borders of ornate trimming, embossed in silver. "Jenna must've done this one." Isaac said, as Mia was examining the sign too. "Garet just doesn't have the dexterity for this. He would've dismissed a piece like this as 'fiddly stuff.'"

"Yeah, it's really pretty, but that's not what we're here for Isaac." Mia said, reaching for the door handle. Isaac had always admired her sense of duty and purpose. "Well I suppose it isn't. Shall we then?" They entered the restaurant.

The pair stepped inside the door and took in the cheery atmosphere of 'Garet's' as they crossed the room. They walked around many small tables of people chatting and finishing their meals, or just enjoying some free time. It was often like this near closing time. They spotted Jenna and Felix sitting at one of the heftier circular tables in the middle of the room; arguing, as usual. From a distance, Isaac could see that Jenna was upset about some burns on her palms. He caught a bit of Jenna's tirade as he got closer. "… probably knocked right on the 'Do Not Disturb' didn't you? You know you can't bother me when I'm working!" Felix, who appeared to have also withheld his explanation of the situation, was trying frantically to defend himself. "Jenna I wouldn't have done it if this wasn't important, you know that!" I could've lost my fingers!" Mia looked torn. Isaac could see the internal struggle between her classic concern for the injured and her knowledge that it was best not to interrupt Jenna when she was yelling at someone. Though she continued to look uneasy, Mia remained silent. Jenna's ranting was beginning to attract attention, but she kept at it; wincing occasionally as she tried to clench her fists. "What do I have to do? Put up a sign that says: 'Do Not Disturb, especially you Felix. Even if it's really important!'"

Mia saw her opportunity as Jenna stopped to pant through her teeth and glare angrily at Felix. "Jenna, can I take a look at your hands?" "If you must." Jenna growled.

Isaac knew why Jenna was so angry. The technique she used to forge her weapons was very risky. She summoned a psynergetic barrier around her hands so that she could shape the red hot metal by hand without burning herself. The heat barrier kept the metal hotter longer, and allowed her to get real tactile feedback from the metal, something no hammer and anvil could provide. It was the secret to how her weapons always had such perfect balance, and how their blades had such a flawless edge. The problem was that the technique required her absolute concentration. Any interruption could cause the barrier to vanish. Hence, the importance of the 'Do Not Disturb' sign.

When Isaac looked over at Jenna again Mia was holding her hands and glowing with a soft blue light as she cast ply on them. Jenna's expression softened and she realized that she had barely acknowledged her friends yet. "Hi guys!" she piped up in a much more measured and friendly tone. Jenna had great fury, but she was capable of restraining it when needed. With such an overwhelming sense of relief at the end of Jenna's tantrum, Felix could only give a gentle nod as greeting. He shot a look at Isaac that said "Lucky you got here when you did!" His brief moment of bliss was interrupted by Garet entering the room in his normal boisterous fashion.

He had seen that they had all come in from the kitchen and decided to join them. Garet walked out through the kitchen door with a cleaver in his hand, still wearing his apron and chef's hat. He saw Mia and Jenna and called out "Awww, you're holding hands! Such a touching reunion isn't it?" Felix leaned his head back and prayed to whatever merciful gods would hear him. Jenna was very much not in the mood for Garet's foolishness. "There's no telling what she'll do!" He readied himself to block any attacks she might launch against Garet, but none came. All that came out of Jenna was a surprisingly nonchalant "Shut up and sit down Garet. Isaac wants to tell us something." Everyone, even Garet was impressed with Jenna's restraint. , especially given their history of agitating each other. Even more impressive, she offered to help Garet clean up in the kitchen so that he could get to sit down with the others quicker. Jenna left her very relieved brother and two dumbfounded friends behind and followed Garet into the kitchen.

Isaac said what both he and Mia were thinking. "Felix, what the heck just happened?"

Felix smiled and said "Oh, Jenna is probably still basking in the glow of her recent victory." Isaac leaned closer, intent on getting some details. Even Mia couldn't restrain her curiosity any longer.  
"Well?" She asked. "We're going to need a little more than that Felix."

"Well I suppose we've got the time, she has a lot of gloating to do." Felix leaned back and prepared to tell them all about it.

"About a month ago, Garet hid a smoke bomb inside Jenna's forge to get revenge because Jenna kept hiding Djinn in peoples' food because earlier Garet had…"

"Oh who knows where this all started!" Mia cut in. "We could spend hours talking about all the things Garet and Jenna have done to drive each other crazy! We're interested in this particular one."

Realizing that he had gotten off-topic, Felix promptly returned to the matter at hand. "So anyway, Garet hid a smoke bomb in the forge while Jenna was gone. Now what he didn't know was that Jenna was gone to the Fortress to borrow so mars Djinn to help her fix a crack in that same forge."

"Ember and Shine." Mia said, remembering the incident. "They had both come back injured. Jenna looked mad when she brought them back, and it was nothing serious, so I assumed that it was their fault and didn't press the issue. She exchanged them for Forge, Core, and Fever. They had a lot more brute strength than she normally needs. I thought that was why she changed back to Ember and Shine again, the both seemed surprisingly eager to go again…"

"And I'd tell you why if you'd stop interrupting me!" Said an indignant Felix. Mia returned to listening quietly as Felix continued.

"Thank you. _Ember and Shine_ were helping Jenna to fix the forge. She needed them because they were small enough to melt metal into the crack from inside. It was a simple job and more or less any fire Djinni could've done it, but she chose these two because they had great artistic potential. She needed their skill to help her finish a decorative coat of arms that Iodem ordered."

"Artists?" Piped up an incredulous Mia. "I never would've imagined…" She stopped when she saw the look Felix was giving her.

"As I was saying, the Djinn were fixing the forge. The heat set off the smoke bomb, and one of them panicked and smashed a hole in the side of the forge."

"It was probably Shine, he always gets jumpy when-"

"MIA!"

"Sorry."

"That's why she needed to borrow the more powerful Djinn for awhile; a hole in a forge takes much more heat, and time to fix. Anything to say about _that _Mia?

"No."

"Good. She was furious when she found out that it was Garet and vowed revenge."

"Helping Garet in the kitchen is revenge?"

"Don't you start Isaac."

"Sorry."

"When the Djinn couldn't fix the forge, Jenna began thinking of a tactful way to vent her rage, and she remembered how Garet had asked her to make him some knives and saw her chance. She got Ember and Shine back from Mia and set to work. When Jenna told Garet that his new set of knives would be ready then next day, he threw out all his old knives, knowing the quality of Jenna's work." Felix chuckled lightly at this point. "The next day Garet received a full set of cutlery that had handles frilled with white lace, and blades adorned with purple butterflies.

When the three of them were done laughing, Isaac asked: "He actually uses those?"

"What choice does he have? He got rid of his other knives. And, though he's very skilled at peeling potatoes with a battleaxe, the traces of blood, dirt, and Dire Wolf fur give the food a rather unsavory aftertaste." This kind of misplaced resourcefulness was just the kind of thing you'd expect from Garet. "It's sad that he finally caved and went back to the knives." Said Felix, quite sarcastically. "It was also during this period that he discovered that his Apollo's Axe could cut and cook food at the same time."

Garet stepped out of the kitchen once again and called. "Hey! Why is everyone having fun without me?"

"I wouldn't say you're completely uninvolved in this Garet!" Joked Isaac, eliciting more laughs from Felix and Mia. Before Garet got the chance to ask what they were talking about, Jenna pushed her way past holding up a knife. "Felix! He managed to burn all the lace off, but the butterflies aren't going anywhere." She held the knife out for them to look at as she sat down. There were indeed many florid depictions of butterflies covering the blade of the knife. Great looping arcs formed the wings and many other ornate features that danced across the blade just under the surface finish. Isaac made a mental note never to mess with Jenna. Garet was used to playing with fire, but Isaac had no wish to incur her wrath. Despite his newfound respect, Isaac couldn't resist saying: "You go to disturbing lengths for vengeance, Jenna."

"Why thank you." She replied. Mia appeared distant as she fingered the blade.

"So Spark and Kindle did all this… I'm very impressed." Knowing the Djinn as personally as she did, missing something like this was very disheartening to her.

Garet had approached the table and was about to say something when he was interrupted by a great, heavily muscled man tapping him on the shoulder. He regarded Garet and the others with a look of distain. The sound of the man's deep, striking voice silenced the other conversation in the room. "You the chef?"

"How else do you explain the funny hat?" Felix taunted. The man ignored him. Garet was no slouch in physical build himself. It was rare to see him dwarfed by another man. Isaac had only known one person who could tower over Garet like that, Navampa.

"What do you want Navampa?" Isaac said in an accusing tone. He turned to acknowledge Isaac and give his sarcastic reply "How touching, you remember little old me." Isaac really wished that he had brought his sword. Until Navampa continued. "That matter has been settled young one, I would not be so thick as to challenge you again after suffering _two_ defeats at the hands of you and your friends."

"So you came here to eat?" Asked Garet, never wanting to turn away a customer. His reply came in a lightened, but still piercing tone. "Yes. I'll have a steak. And cook it right kid! I've had enough of this 'rare' junk they try to push on me everywhere. The meat I got in Vault might as well have had a bell on it! I want that steak cooked so well that the plate shatters when you serve it up." This sent a shiver through the already nervous crowd. Navampa had gone way past 'Well done.' A fiendish smile crossed Garet's face as he said "Coming right up!" Several people got up and left at that point.

Isaac watched Garet over the counter that separated the kitchen and the dining area. He seemed to be punching holes in a raw steak with various, butterfly-branded implements. Navampa saw as well. "What're you doing to my steak boy!" He yelled into the kitchen. "The holes are so the shockwave doesn't make the steak explode." Garet replied menacingly.

Isaac said "We should run guys." Receiving no reply he turned around only to find an empty table behind him. He heard the door slam as the last of the crowd left. The restaurant was empty. Isaac decided to follow his own advice and left as well. He joined the crowd that was now waiting, at a safe distance, to witness the impending cataclysm, for it was sure to be spectacular.

----------

Oh noes:O Garet's gonna do something stupid and kill us all! Run for your miserable little lives!

This story clearly has a mind of its own. We were supposed to finish the reunion at Garet's in chapter two. Now here we are at chapter 4 and Garet, Jenna, and Mia still don't even know that the world is in mortal peril. Ah well, read and complain as usual. Let me know if I might've been unclear in the Felix flashback. It was the first major section of dialogue that I tried to splice out of the action and I'm not sure I was totally clear the whole time. I can't really fix it because I wrote it and I know what I was trying to say. Of course that's true for all the chapters... Well I'll shut up now and let you get down to business.


	6. An old Friend Returns

Not exactly inundated with reviews, but that's never stopped me before. Here's the dramatic conclusion of: "What's Garet blowing up now?"

Chapter 5:

"Shouldn't we stop him?" Isaac asked when he found his friends. Felix reminded Isaac of the severity of the situation. "Stopping him would mean going in there. And I'm not going to do that, are you?" Isaac had to agree. He had no choice but to watch, and hope that Garet wouldn't kill himself. Not sure what Garet was going to do, or when, the stronger adepts of the crowd were casting Ward, Resist, Guard, or anything else they could think of to protect themselves. "Is it really going to be _that_ bad?" Mia asked. "I mean, Garet is a skilled cook _and_ experienced Mars Adept. I'm sure he'll have everything under control. This won't be that devastating." Jenna gave her that "I can't believe she likes that dolt" look that had become almost a reflex for her. "It's Garet." She stated.

"You're right. We're all doomed." Mia admitted.

Then the explosion came. To the crowd's surprise, it didn't come from inside the Restaurant, but from behind it a few hundred feet away. The rush of superheated air knocked people off their feet, and blew the straw from the thatched roofs of nearby buildings, but nothing more. Over the roar of the explosion echoing through the valley, Isaac thought that he heard shattering glass. Jenna _knew_ she heard it and ran inside saying: "If anything happened to those windows…" She had right to be concerned, those windows were one of her greatest master works. Concerned that Garet might have hurt himself, Mia said: "We'd better check on him." Isaac and Felix agreed, so they entered.

The Restaurant was the only building in town that had glass windows, now Vale had no such buildings. Isaac could see that the windows were indeed smashed to pieces, though he saw no sign of Garet. Jenna appeared to have found out about the windows as well. She was walking about the room muttering to herself, smoke rising from her clenched fists. "I need a way to keep the bugs out of my kitchen _Jenna!_ I'll never forget it _Jenna!_ Oh! I'll bury him alive, then dig him up and kill him! Then bury him again!" Mia had her psynergy ready; things had a way of spontaneously catching fire when Jenna was like this. Isaac thought that it was for the best that Garet couldn't be found. Jenna would certainly tear him in half if he showed up.

And yet Garet did just that. He walked through the back door holding a plate with a large cooked steak on it. It was a very deep amber, stiff and dried, but astonishingly, not charred at all. Navampa couldn't have been happier with it. Before Garet could set out silver ware, he picked it up with his hands and took a big bite out of it. He swallowed hard and said: "For the first time in my life I feel respect for a man in an apron."

Garet had gone a whole ten seconds without Jenna killing him, Isaac knew any longer would be pushing it. He told Garet: "Go back to the kitchen and change, you can close up shop and talk with us once Navampa is done eating."

"Can do!" He replied, disappearing into the kitchen.

Navampa didn't seem like the small-talk type, but Isaac couldn't help asking: "So what brought you to Vale?" In between bites Navampa grunted: "I've heard of Vale's Adept Academy. The one ran by your friend with the ponytail. I was granted psynergetic abilities by the release of alchemy. Different from the kind that you used to defeat me at Collosso though."

"You mean you're a different element." Isaac said.

"Yes. My power affects the air." That knocked the wind out of everyone at the table. "What's everyone staring at?" Navampa asked, noticing the looks he was receiving.

"Are you sure you're a Jupiter adept." Isaac asked. "_Really_ sure?"

He stopped eating and psynergetic light enveloped him. Everyone was too stunned to shield their minds. After a moment the light vanished and he stated: "You all can't believe that I'm a Jupiter adept because Jupiter Adepts typically have light frames built for speed, not heavy frames built for crushing." That would've been enough, but he had taken advantage of their surprise and couldn't resist showing off. "Jenna is trying to think of something humiliating and demoralizing that she can make Garet do in exchange for the new windows he is sure to ask for. Felix is wondering how Garet managed to not blow up the Restaurant and wants me to stop calling him 'Isaac's friend', don't worry kid, I just learned your real name. Isaac is wondering how Garet can keep his hair so perfectly spiked under that ridiculous hat. Mia is also preoccupied by thoughts of Garet, but she's thinking about his…" Navampa noticed the terrified look on Mia's face. "ahem. cooking." He finished: "Garet walked out of the kitchen while I was talking and he's going to say: 'My hat is not ridiculous!'" He leaned back with a satisfied look on his face. Garet was taken aback. "How did you know what I was thinking just then? You used Mind Read long before I thought that. "Oh, please Garet. You make a fine steak, but you think even louder than you talk."

"Ok, so you're really a Jupiter Adept, but all you did was creep us out. You didn't explain why you're here."

"Very well Isaac." Navampa continued his explanation: "I've competed in two tournaments since you defeated me four years back, both times I was defeated by adepts of trivial strength." Though it had only been a few moments, and he had been talking the whole time, he finished the mammoth slab of meat on his plate by this point. Wiping his mouth with his hand, Navampa continued: "Well I've learned my lesson. I want to train here; so that I'll be ready for any cheap tricks my opponents might pull on me at this year's tournament. I want to join your school, Felix."

Felix was conflicted about his answer. Most of his current students were teenagers or younger, and they were all quite likely to be afraid of Navampa. Then again… Navampa could snap him like a twig with one hand tied behind his back. Then he realized that Navampa didn't know how to use offensive psynergy yet. He had the advantage there, but if he trained Navampa, he would lose that leverage. "Do I really want to teach this guy to shoot lightning bolts?" He thought.

"Don't worry Felix, I'll be good." Said Navampa, smirking.

"All right I'll let you in, just stay out of my head!" Felix was about to end it there, but he remembered his advantage. "And one more thing." Navampa didn't look like he was in the mood for any more things, but Felix continued: "The Academy is running a little short on funds…" Felix held out a hand and rubbed his fingers together, indicating that he wanted payment. Navampa retorted: "And you want me to break your fingers?" Felix withdrew his hand. "You're in. Class starts Monday at nine sharp."

----------

I should've picked Azart. I keep misspelling Navampa.

Well that was fun. Especially since I know even less about what's going to happen than you do. My rought draft said that "Some guy" ordered a steak. And now I have this for reasons that are beyond me.


	7. Lesson One

Minor edit:

Gave all the chapters cheesy titles because I was tired of the numbers no lining up due to the prologue.

Chapter 6:

"Monday?" Navampa said. "But it's Wednesday! What's the hold up?" "I have personal matters to attend to. In fact, I was planning on starting in them right now." Felix responded. Not taking the hint, Navampa persisted. "You just happen to not have time just as I arrive?"

"Yes, it's very unfortunate, but this can't wait."

"Would this have anything to do with the dangers of Alchemy?"

"I told you to stop reading my mind!"

"And I said I would stop. I didn't read your mind. I guessed and you _completely_ caved."

"Indeed, well it _does_ have to do with Alchemy. So you know how important it is. I would appreciate it if you left so we can get started. Garet's is closing you know."

"The place doesn't close for another ten minutes. I have as much right to be here as you do."

"I suppose you're right. But you wouldn't be so adamant about staying just for the principle of the thing. What do you want?"

"Well since you're such a _great_ teacher, I don't think that it would be beyond you to give me a few pointers on Jupiter psynergy in the time we have left so that I might practice on my own."

Felix considered Navampa's idea. It was a very reasonable demand, and if he could avoid angering Navampa by complying with this simple request he might as well do it. Ten minutes wouldn't hurt that much. He had allowed for all the other delays he's experienced thus far, why not this one. "All right, but just ten minutes."

"That's all I ask."

Felix stood and addressed the rest of the party. "It looks like we've got some downtime. I'm going to be giving Navampa a crash-course in Jupiter psynergy. Just sit tight." Everyone agreed to do so. Isaac looked on as Felix began his mini lecture. "You've obviously mastered Mind Read, but that tends to be a very simple and intuitive psynergy. Have you managed to use any other abilities?"

"I can create strong breezes, but nothing of real use. I need to learn how to shoot lightning, and then I'll be tough enough to wipe the smirks of the faces of those Adepts!"

"You do indeed have a lot to learn Navampa. Lightning is the last resort for a true Jupiter Adept. The Jupiter Adepts of the last Golden Age were philosophers and monks. That kind of mantra is reflected in their discipline. Jupiter sages have always taught respect for life. That's why their techniques focus on speed, defense, and playing the advantage. Sum up your fighting style in a sentence."

"I rely on my strength and experience to strike hard at my opponent's weak points."

"That's part of the problem. If you fight that way, all your opponent has to do is defend himself until you make a mistake."

"So what should I do?"

"Exactly the opposite of what you are doing now. Keep moving, and change your posture so that your movements aren't predictable. Wait for your foe to get reckless and attack at the wrong moment. Use that as an opening to counterattack."

"Sound advice, but I came here to learn psynergy, not fighting style."

"Being an adept will _give_ you a whole new fighting style."

"Fair enough, but I'm still waiting for those helpful tricks of yours…"

Felix sighed. "Try to channel and redirect air flows to knock your opponent off balance and use that as you opportunity to strike with melee."

"What about lightning?"

"We'll get to that, we've got five more minutes."

Isaac soon lost interest in Felix's teachings, and his attention wandered to Mia and Jenna at the table next to them. They had been adamantly discussing Djinn for almost the whole time. Mia was determined to find out why Jenna had so close of a personal relationship with the Djinn as to know their talents and interests so well.

Mia was saying: "I've lived with them for four years and they still feel like strangers."

"That's not what they think…"

"What do they say about me?"

"They know that you care. They know what a handful they can be. They don't blame you for not spending so much personal time with them. When I take one or two Djinn with me to my shop, I get to really talk with them one-on-one. You've never had that opportunity and they know why."

"I've always regretted that…"

Isaac turned to Garet, who was also eavesdropping. "I'd almost call her obsessive." He said.

"Mia? Yeah, but you know that she really cares, and that's all that matters."

"Her heart is in the right place."

"Can I ask you something Isaac?"

"Only if I get to ask you something too."

"Fine, but I go first. It's about Mia."

Isaac could tell where he was going with this. He prayed for a distraction, but none came.

"You've spent time with her. How does she feel about me?"

Isaac was torn. He couldn't just come out and tell him. Especially given Garet's propensity towards irrational actions, and the possible threat to the world which he hadn't gotten around to discussing yet. He had to say something though.

"I'm really not the person you should be asking. Ask Mia how she feels and I think you'll find the answer you're looking for."

"I was afraid you'd say something like that. I'll have to think about this."

Isaac mumbled. "This could take awhile…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Isaac had to think of a way to get him off this subject. That shouldn't be too hard. Garet isn't a difficult person to distract. Yet Garet thought of one for him.

"Sure, what was your question anyway?"

"How do you keep your hair perfectly spiked like that?

"I'm not telling you."

"Why not?"

"You called my hat ridiculous!"

"I never _called_ it ridiculous."

"Well you _thought_ it!"

"You can't punish me for something I thought!"

"Just watch me."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"Apologize."

"I'm not apologizing for _thinking_ your hat is ridiculous!"

"Then you shall never know the secret of my hair."

"It's a hairstyle, not an ancient secret. Trust me; I've disturbed my share of ancient ruins."

Distracted by his most fruitful and engaging conversation with Garet, Isaac had failed to notice that Navampa had left, and that everyone had gathered around his table. Jenna was the first to speak. "Well Isaac, we're out of interruptions. What did you bring us here for?"

--------

And we're back to the main storyline! I knew I'd get around to it eventually...

Don't expect updates to continue at this pace for much longer, I suppose you could say that I've been inspired, but if I write any faster I'm afraid the quality will suffer.


	8. Out of Distractions

Chapter 7

Isaac had almost forgotten the purpose of this meeting with all the unique distractions that had come up, but Jenna was right. He had no reason to delay any further. He might as well come out and say it.

"There is a great threat to the world. It seems that my fears about Alchemy may be being realized at this very moment."

The warm, cheery atmosphere of 'Garet's' vanished as if a cold breeze had just blown through the room. A deafening silence followed. During which the adepts considered the gravity of Isaac's words. Garet was first to speak.

"What makes you so sure of that Isaac?"

"The earthquake earlier this morning. I'm sure you all felt it"

The gathered adepts silently agreed.

"But we have tremors like that all the time! There's all kinds of landslides and stuff up in Aleph Basin."

"This was not a normal earthquake."

Everyone, except for Garet of course, appreciated how grave that statement was. Isaac was not one to overstate things to make them more interesting. This was the real deal.

Garet again broke the silence.

"I think you're overreacting Isaac. The sound of an earthquake can't tell you that much."

"Oh? And I suppose that _your_ nearly a decade of studying Venus psynergy and expansive experience with Alchemy taught you that?"

Garet still had objections, but he agreed that Isaac was more of an expert than he was.

Jenna was no longer content to listen quietly.

"So what do you want us for?" She siad.

"I was getting to that Jenna. Kraden left for another trip into the Basin a week ago. The only reason that he ever stays that long is if he's found something very important. We all know what happened at Kraden's last big discovery."

Everyone but Mia was present at that event and was reminded of the outcome of Kraden's last great discovery at Sol Sanctum five years ago.

"I think that whatever Kraden has found, he's messed with it and now we're all in danger."

"So what do you want us to do?" Jenna asked. This question was all too familiar to Isaac. The group had always looked to him for support and guidance.

"We've got to go to the Basin and find Kraden. He probably needs our help and when we find him we can try to undo whatever it is that he's done. Go to your homes and retrieve your equipment. We'll all meet up at the fortress so that we can take the necessary Djinn with us."

"Isaac," Mia said. "You act like you're expecting to take us into battle. Do you know something we don't?"

"I've told you all I know Mia. I'm not expecting a battle, but I think it would be unwise to go out unprepared for one."

"Then shouldn't we bring the whole group, they're a part of this too."

"How are we supposed to do that? There's a sea and a continent separating us from Ivan, Sheba _vanished_, and other than "out to sea" no one knows where Piers is. It could take months to track them all down! We don't have that kind of time. Kraden could be trapped or hurt or…"

Felix, normally quite content to listen quietly, finally spoke up.

"It all right Isaac, we'll find him."

And so the Adepts went out into town to retrieve their long neglected equipment. The meeting at the Fortress was delayed because all of the Adepts found that their weapons and armor needed touch up work at Jenna's shop.

"This will never do." Said Jenna, surveying Garet's rusty Apollo's Axe. "Of course I could fix it, if I had a _forge_."

Since this impasse was his fault, Garet felt that he ought to help.

"Jenna, all a forge does is heat stuff up really hot right?"

"Yes, that is the idea."

"Well there are other ways of doing that."

Garet pressed the blade of his Apollo's Axe tightly between his hands and focused his mind on it. It wasn't long before sparks jumped from the surface and the blade glowed red hot. With heating metal taken care of, Jenna set to work on the group's equipment.

Felix leaned over to Isaac. "She looks happy, a little too happy. She's got a plan and that's never a good thing."

Isaac saw the look in her eyes as well.

"I don't like it either, but Jenna knows how serious this is. I doubt whatever it is she has planned will interfere with our objective."

Having fought alongside her, Felix had to agree, but having been her brother all his life, he remained wary.

Their gear now polished and sharp enough to split a hair, the group continued on to the Fortress. The atmosphere was much different that when Isaac had gone to get Mia. The Djinn were happy to see all of them, but they had lost their playful attitudes. For all their quirks, they knew when it was time for business.

Once the necessary Djinn were obtained, they waved goodbye to a lot of forlorn-looking Jupiter Djinn and set out for the Basin.

---------

Ok! Back to the heroic quest! (Finally) Hopefully I can keep my mind from wandering long enough to get them to the Basin. I must maintain absolute focus and eliminate all... Hey look a bunny!

I'm still debating with myself wether or not to put an Alex chapter in here. I'd love to know what you think.


	9. Apocalypse

Ok. Trying to go somewhere with thais chapter is harder than I expected it would be, so I'm going to fall back on past sucesses and try to make a humorous unterlude that also advances the plot. So sit back and watch the train wreck.

One more thing, I agreed with Hawki about the Alex chapter just being an emo monologue, so here's ummm... not... that:

Chapter 8

The team set out across the old dirt path that led to Aleph basin. No one traveled along this road much anymore. The sages and healers of Sol Sanctum used to use this path and wander this place pondering the mysteries of their world. Today, the foreboding chasm that lies at the end of the road keeps travelers away. Now there is no Sol Sanctum to come to. Its mysteries were lost to all but one determined sage; Kraden.

Isaac, as always, had unilateral focus on his goal. The same could not be said for the rest of the troupe, yet he walked on unmindful to them. Traveling together on a great adventure once again, they couldn't help but reminisce about the good old days of their quest to save Weyard.

"The world is placed before us to do with as we will." Said Mia, taking in the lush scenery.

Garet agreed. "Living in Vale those years was nice, but it's good to have a mission again, to be working for some higher purpose."

"We're just saving Kraden." A still stone-faced Felix said. "The fate of the world isn't at stake…" He trailed off with: "I hope."

Jenna, who had seen her brother like this before, knew that she had to pull him out of this, or the black cloud over his head would spread to everyone. She knew she could do it. The likeness of fond memories was shining in Felix's eyes as well. She was his little sister. She'd been pushing his buttons since they were children.

"As long as we've got the time Felix, wasn't there something you wanted to _ask_ Garet?"

Felix suddenly brightened.

"You know there was, I had completely forgotten."

"Well spit it out Felix! We haven't got all day you know." Snapped an impatient Garet.

"Fine then. Garet, how did you manage to not blow up you restaurant when you broiled that steak?"

"Trade secret."

"Oh come on! I really want to know!"

"Ok, ok I'll tell you."

Mia had been trying to stay silent, but she couldn't help saying: "This ought to be good."

Garet gave her a spiteful look before continuing.

"Quite simple really, I just cooked the steak outside in the clearing behind the restaurant."

There was a brief silence as Jenna and Mia exchanged crestfallen looks at the simplicity of Garet's solution.

Felix's face once again displayed the stolid expression they knew so well. "This truly is the end of the world."

Jenna looked terrified. Had she failed to cheer Felix? Was she losing her touch after all these years?

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Felix turned to her, his once impassive face now showing powerful anguish.

"Oh no, I've made him worse!" Jenna thought.

"Don't you understand?" He said, his fear evident in his voice. "Garet learned something!"

Everyone looked at Felix with stunned disbelief. A smile cracked his false expression.

"I mean _really_. Garet learning something has got to be up there with exploding volcanoes and swarms of locusts as far as signs of the apocalypse is concerned. Unbreakable constants have been shattered! Everything in the world is wrong!"

The three adepts stared at Felix in disbelief. Garet was too busy to figure out that he was being insulted. Slowly the impossible realization came to Jenna. Felix was joking!

Jenna played along. "Oh, and don't worry about Garet. I won't make him do anything horrible. I'll give him new windows out of the goodness of my heart!"

Mia looked like she was about to faint before she noticed they were joking. Garet was… a bit less perceptive.

"GAH! He's right! The world is turned upside-down! What do we do? We're all doomed!" He screamed, sending the others into peals of laughter.

The three of them spent a few minutes imitating Garet's panic, going back and forth until the three of them were utterly spent from laughing. A disbelieving Garet looked down at them.

"How can you be laughing at a time like this? The fate of the world is at stake!"

Jenna wiped her eyes and looked up. Normally being one to enjoy Garet's suffering, it was surprising that Jenna was the first to throw him a bone. She decided that that was enough torturing Garet; for now... For Garet's benefit, she said: "Felix, it's OK. I was kidding. He dies for this."

Garet stared blankly for a moment as his mental picture of the world righted itself. He said: "Your threats of fresh assaults on my dignity are strangely comforting Jenna."

A gentle chuckle escaped Felix as he walked ahead to join Isaac. Jenna whispered to herself "Still got it!" Isaac had been giving them all the evil eye because their continued high jinks had cost them valuable time. The rest of the group soon picked up the pace as well, they could feel a speech coming on.

Soon the greenery faded around them, and shattered boulders and pillars began to appear; the ruins of Sol Sanctum. Though the atmosphere had become less lighthearted, Garet couldn't help asking: "So Jenna, what demeaning punishment did you have in mind for me?"

Jenna smirked and said: "Well, your new windows would be easy to make if I had a forge. And remember, all a forge does is heat stuff up really hot, right?"

Garet didn't entirely like where this was going.

"But Jenna! You have that forge burning-"

"Six hours a day. That's how long I expect you to work."

He didn't like the idea, but saw no other way around this.

"Ok, but for how long?"

"Well, it'll take about a month to get the new forge from Kalay."

"A month! How will I recover my lost profits from being away from my restaurant?"

"I could pay you, but it won't be much. Forges are expensive you know."

"Oh please. All you have to do is mention Isaac's name and you'll get one for free."

Master Hammet had never properly thanked Isaac and his party for saving him from Dodonpa, so anyone that was friends with Isaac got the royal treatment in their dealings with Kalay.

"Fine. I'll give you ten percent of my earnings."

"Ok, you make about a Hundred-Thousand Gold a month, so ten percent would be-"

"A hundred gold!" Jenna interrupted, smiling.

"Don't try to pull that on me Jenna."

"Oh?" She said, feigning innocence.

"Yeah! Ten percent of a Hundred-Thousand isn't a Hundred. It's a Thousand."

Jenna could've sworn she saw even Isaac smile at that, but he quickly composed himself again. Jenna saw why. They had arrived at the Basin.

--------

Making fun of Garet made this one a lot of fun to write. Well, they're at the Basin. It's going to be pretty hard to delay this Alex chapter much longer. Respond and such. How I'll handle this is still open for debate.


	10. Master Plan

This Alex chapter is pretty much the lag inbetween where the fun ends and the action begins. It's a bit dry, but I knew that I couldn't get through this without a chapter about Alex and his Uber evilness. I tried, but I just can't bring myself to make a fun chapter about Alex. He's the bad guy! You just don't do things like that. Anyway, here we go!

Chapter 9

"It is most unfortunate that is was you who found me here. For you that is…" Alex sneered. Kraden stood in defiant silence; gazing into the emptiness of the chamber he had discovered. If his investigation of Sol Sanctum had led to this, he has glad it was to become his tomb, so that no one would have to suffer the consequences of his search for knowledge.

"Congratulations Sage Kraden. You have just usurped the original first step of my plan. I needed a way to attract Isaac here."

"Isaac will know that there's something more going on. He'll be ready!"

"So will I."

"They defeated you once, they can do it again."

"They. Did. NOT. DEFEAT ME!"

His words were accompanied by a chill blast that made Kraden pull his thick cloak tighter around him, and cover his ears with its hood.

Alex quickly regained his composure, and continued as if he hadn't just shaken the walls with his fury.

"Your memory must be weak old man."

Kraden gritted his teeth at being called "Old man," but said nothing.

"If you think back; you notice that none of your little teenage entourage even had the privilege of fighting me. Let alone defeating me."

Kraden knew that Alex was right. Though his plan had failed in a most spectacular manner, it was due to the Wise One's intervention.

"In fact, as I recall; it was due to the efforts of you and your little band of 'heroes' that I was granted the power I posses now."

Kraden remembered the conversation at the Mars Aerie when Alex's deception had been revealed. Being used like that in the guise of such a great legacy still stung. Yet he remembered why they had elected to fire the beacon. Alex's influence wasn't the only reason.

"It had to be done." He stated. "We couldn't save Weyard from its slow decline without Alchemy."

Alex was about to relish in the continued anguish he had caused, but Kraden continued: "But I felt that we could save the world from _you_."

Alex struggled not to lose control again.

"You still have such confidence. You know they've never seen me fight and they've been dormant allowing their skills to dull for _years_ living their pointless little lives! I got to witness two prime examples of their fighting style at the Mercury and Jupiter lighthouses. I have felt the presence of Jupiter leave Vale. I know they will be nothing with one of their elements missing."

Kraden was hit hard by the impact of what Alex was saying. What if they had gotten rusty? The soundness of their party came for having adepts of all four elements; would they be able to handle someone as powerful as Alex without any Jupiter Adepts? If there was one thing Kraden knew, it was that knowledge was as powerful a weapon as any sword or psynergy, and Alex was well armed in all three departments. Kraden was afraid that his concern would show through if he spoke, so he said nothing.

"I have dedicated these years I have spent trapped in this chamber to studying the tomes of the Jupiter scribes that were stored here. I trained my speed and dexterity to take advantage of what they lack. I've formed an infallible strategy to destroy them all."

Alex knew he might be saying too much, but he couldn't resist showing off the perfection of his plan.

"I can manipulate water with just as much skill as Mia. I can douse anything Jenna or Garet can throw at me with that same skill. And I have a few _unpleasant_ surprises planned for the Venus adepts in the crowd."

Alex's frustration and fury rose within him again as Kraden continued to stare him in the face without the slightest hint of fear. He couldn't lose control. A live hostage would be more valuable to him, especially since Kraden would serve only as a martyr if killed. Yet… an ally would be still more valuable.

"Why do you continue to study these ruins? The prophecy of Alchemy has been fulfilled, and certainly no one would blame you for retiring after the life you've led."

Pleased yet suspicious of Alex's sudden switch to small talk, Kraden elected to respond.

"I continue to study because I believe that is the purpose of humanity; to learn and to better ourselves. That is what thrust our world into the Last Golden Age. The search for knowledge is always-"

"Oh, spare me! You know as well as I do that it was the presence of Alchemy that allowed society to advance as it did."

"All the purple bricks in the world wouldn't build Jupiter Lighthouse without some informed minds behind its design. The seal on Alchemy merely took away the raw materials we used to express our genius."

Alex had never heard a more ludicrous idea. Of course, none of this showed on his always sullen face.

"For all you've seen and all you've learned, you're still a fool Kraden. Alchemy is the energy civilization runs on. The purpose of life isn't knowledge. The purpose of knowledge is to gain power. And power is an end unto itself."

"Only the shortsighted would speak of knowledge in such a context."

Ignoring Kraden's insult, Alex continued.

"I don't mean the power of psynergy, or Alchemy, or any other such mysticism. That too is a means to an end. I mean true power; power that only exists because people will it to. The power to force your demands on others and rule over all that lives."

"All."

Alex was confused by Kraden's highlighting of the word.

"Indeed. All that is, all that exists I shall rule."

"There is the hole in your philosophy Alex. There is always more to learn, more to know, more to discover. What will you do when there is nothing left to conquer? Will you end your life because its purpose has ended? Will you start a war and do it all over again? What will become of the great and powerful Alex then?"

Kraden was stubborn; there was no way that Alex could get him to see his side. "There has to be some chink in his armor." Alex thought. "He has great strength of will, but he's still the same old man I once used for my plot. Old man… that's it!"

Kraden adjusted his glasses. He could've sworn he saw Alex smile…

Alex shifted the conversation in another direction.

"It must be hard. To be so old, needing to leave your mark on the world."

"Hmph! My footprints grace hallowed soils that you could never imagine."

"You know not to whom you speak. Even the most sedate of my musings would trump your life story in an instant."

"What are you getting at Alex?"

"You could be part of it you know… My conquest of Weyard. All you would have to do is stand by me. The sight of you betraying them would crush their spirits and have them all ready to give up and die before the battle even started."

"If my death will serve this world merely by my absence emboldening its saviors then so be it."

Kraden's resistance was no longer amusing. Alex wanted so much to destroy him, but he still had value.

Alex's inner conflicts were interrupted by footsteps outside.

"Your 'saviors' are here Kraden. It's a shame you won't witness their heroic sacrifice."

"You won't kill me Alex. I'm still too valuable too you."

"Indeed." It pained him to know that his intentions were so obvious, but he didn't have time.

"Well then, you've made your choice. If you won't be my Knight, you _will_ be my pawn."

Kraden was blinded by a brilliant blast of psynergy. When he opened his eyes, he found himself shackled to the stone wall with rings of ice. Alex walked over to the ornate fountain in the center of the room.

"I have worked for innumerable hours and days purifying the essence of this water until it can be no finer. This essence has become part of my soul. I've charged it into a single attack of unprecedented power. This one ultimate attack will make a very _disagreeable_ welcome for whoever steps through that door…"

--------

Yays for suspense and mega-evil! I really liked how defiant and virtuous Kraden turned out. Let me know what you think.


	11. Knock Knock

Ok, you got me. I'm not good at writing summaries. I've changed it so that it's a little easier to understand. Feel free to write one for me if you think you can do better.

Chapter 10:

"Are you sure this is the way you went with Kraden last time Jenna?" Isaac asked.

Jenna surveyed the landscape around her. The pit was at least ten miles across and nearly half as deep. The Golden Sun baked the already parched landscape. No green was seen upon even the closest inspection. Everything was the same shade of light tan. The remaining soil filled the cracks that existed between the large, flat rocks that followed the curvature of the crater. It was likely that the soil was transmuted to rock by the heat of Alchemy's release.

Satisfied that she had her bearings, Jenna replied:

"Yes, this is the same route we took last time."

Isaac didn't know what 'route' she was talking about. It seemed to him that they were just clambering over rocks in an apparently arbitrary direction. The view looked the same to him as when they had crested the rim over half an hour ago, but he trusted Jenna's sense of direction. Normally his psynergetic rapport with the earth giving him an increasing sense of foreboding was a bad thing, but in this case, it meant he was getting closer.

A few minutes later, Jenna stopped and indicated: "Here."

"No kidding." Garet replied.

Indeed, there was no mistaking the towering doors that stood encircled by the earth of the basin wall. The antique-looking doors were twenty feet tall with arched tops. They were made of exotic timbers that sported a pale emerald color, held together by rugged steel bands. They all felt the malicious power radiating from within.

However, there was something that Jenna had to point out that the others didn't notice.

"Look here. See how the dirt is packed and caked up like that, but there's a space between it and the door? That means that these doors were opened recently."

Isaac knew what she meant. "And, knowing Kraden, he's inside."

To Felix, the course was clear.

"Garet. Knock." He ordered.

Garet nodded and stepped forward. Isaac and Jenna jumped aside as they saw he was preparing a psynergetic attack. Garet's fireball collided with the door and gave off a satisfactory explosion. However, he may as well have thrown his glove at it for all the good his attack did to the door.

"Let me try Garet." Jenna said. "I think this requires some finesse."

Garet held up a hand to stop her.

"Did I say I was finished?"

Isaac could feel the temperature spike as Garet prepared an attack of ten times as much power. Jenna could take the heat, but the others were forced to step back as the force of the heat labored their breathing.

Garet thrust his hands forward and an enormous Heat Wave attack leapt from them. Though the others were standing some ten yards away by now, the heat of the attack dried their skin and made the tips of their hair curl. Isaac could hear a hiss as steam escaped from the water skin around his belt.

Garet lowered his hands and ceased the attack, the flames slowly dissipating. As Felix watched the flames dance across the surface of the door before going out he said:

"You know the strange thing is, that's exactly what I meant."

The failure of Felix's apparently sound plan was realized when the smoke cleared to reveal the doors, smoldering in places, but still quite solid.

As the others approached the doors Isaac appeared deep in though, saying:

"It shouldn't be this hard; he wants us to get in."

Before anyone could ask who 'he' was, Isaac stepped up to the doors.

"Mia, here." He said, pointing at a seemingly meaningless spot on the door.

Taking the hint, Mia stepped forward and shot a jet of water from her Crystal Rod. The water steamed and sizzled as it splashed against the hot metal band on the door. As the ash cleared away, a small bronze plate was revealed, contrasting the dark steel of the door's reinforcing bands. It was old and worn, but there were some minute etchings in the surface.

Summoning the only metallurgy expert at his disposal, Isaac called for Jenna.

"What can you tell me about this plate?"

Jenna leaned forward, her practiced eye taking in every minuscule detail of the metal.

"This wasn't here the last time, when we found the door that is." She said. "From the patterns and moldings on the edges I'd say this is some kind of sign or plaque. The text is worn; I'll try to repair it."

She summoned the flame barrier she used for forging and pressed her hand against the plate, feeling for the ridges of possible, worn-away text.

There was a sudden flash. Jenna was thrown backward, but the flame barrier protected her hand. Mia rushed to her side, but she appeared uninjured.

Isaac heard a crackling behind him.

"OW!" He yelped as a glowing spark hit him in the back of the neck. He whirled to face Garet.

Garet held up his hands. "It wasn't me!" He said. "Look!"

Isaac turned back to the door. The surface of the small plate sputtered and sparked as writing was burned into the surface by some unseen force. The strange writing continued until the whole plate was covered in an ancient script. "It's written in cucarian; the archival script of Sol Sanctum's historians." Isaac said. "This shouldn't be too tough" Isaac had been deciphering that language for years. He leaned in to look closely at the letters.

en rest la ĉambro nepre. ..u la hororoj de kemis esti mAlligita kondukŝnuron al sur la mondo refoje, la posedantoj de ĝia potenco renkontos tie ĉi decidi la monda sorto. de pLumo aŭ de glavo, ĉiuj varde ekzistos de kio estas dEcidita tie ĉi. - burheX

"Strange… I can read it, but there's something more here…"

Jenna giggled. "You sound just like Kraden. Well what does it say? That seems like a good place to start."

Isaac translated from the plaque:

"Within lies the chamber of necessity. Should the horrors of Alchemy be unleashed upon the world once again, the possessors of its power shall meet here to decide the world's fate. By pen or by sword, all Weyard shall exist by what is decided here.

Barcax"

"What's so interesting about that?" Garet asked.

"There's the odd capital modern letter here and there. And there was a historian named Barcak, but his name was spelled with a K. I find it hard to believe that he would misspell his own name when signing his work."

Isaac pointed at the erroneous letter with his finger. When he touched the plate, he found that the letters weren't hot at all, though they glowed as if they were heated. At his touch, the X disappeared.

"So that's it." Isaac touched the other three out-of-place letters. "He always was one for subtlety."

"Who are you talking-"

Jenna was cut short by the loud rumbling and creaking as the doors swung inward.

Isaac and Felix both tensed as they instantly recognized the vibrations as the same ones they had felt that morning.

A deep voice, akin to the deafening roar of the doors, but in a measured and purposeful tone issued from the dark doorway.

"Welcome young ones. You have come in search of something. How fortunate, since you also possess something I seek."

---------

This is either going to turn into a battle, or a really intense watermelon-eating contest.

Anyway, since you guys like Alex's super-evil so much I think I'll put in a chapter where they talk before the battle. I might even get it done tonight, stay tuned!


	12. Proper Introductions

Chapter 11:

The doors were wide open, and yet the light of the blazing sun failed to penetrate the darkness of the structure.

"Hello Alex." Isaac said, with none of the surprise or anger that should've come with that statement. The others had plenty of such feelings.

"You've got some explaining to do." Growled Garet. "But I don't know how you're going to do it without your head."

"So you've finally crawled out of you dark little hole." Said Felix.

"Allow us to help you back in." Finished Jenna.

Mia had the most against Alex of the entire group, but she reserved her threats because she had noticed a key detail the others hadn't.

"Show yourself Alex." She said.

"I'm pleased to see that you all remember me." Alex replied; raising his hands to illuminate the strange windows. The light slowly rose, and Alex appeared before the adepts as they entered the room, he appeared just as they had always known him. His long shock blue hair draped down either side of his placid face. He was still wearing his Imlian attire. Coarse, but warm and well crafted clothes woven of a deep blue fabric swathed his lean form.

Had it not been for Alex, the adepts would've stopped to gaze awestruck at the room they had just entered. The deep green stone was perfectly smooth. The room was vast and the shimmering windows highlighted every detail of the room. Twenty columns, spaced ten feet apart ran down the two long walls on either side. They meshed perfectly into the high, vaulted ceiling that sported enormous, ornate arches that maintained the room's large open space.

"I was worried that you would forget your old friend." He said.

"We haven't forgotten about Kraden just because you showed up!" Garet retorted. "OW!" Jenna had whacked him in the back of the head with her staff.

"I see little has changed in the years we've been apart." Alex said.

Felix had had enough of this.

"I though you were dead Alex. And I don't like being wrong."

With that, he raised his sword and unleashed a powerful Odyssey attack. Two swords of shimmering psynergy, one from the ground, one from the air shot towards Alex. He held up a hand and they smashed into each other, shattering and fading from existence without ever having reached their mark. Felix paid them no mind as he charged forward, pushing the third colossal sword in front of him.

"Perfect." Alex said, summoning the water essence he had stored for so long.

From his hand shot a bolt of pure power that smashed through Felix's sword like it wasn't even there. It hit Felix hard in the chest and sent him flying backwards through the doorway.

"Felix!" Jenna yelled.

She and Mia ran for to the door after him.

"You aren't going anywhere." Alex said as the doors slammed in front of them.

"He was lucky enough to die outside. This chamber shall be the tomb of the rest of you fools!"

"Somehow I don't think killing us is all you want Alex." Said Isaac, as though he hadn't just seen Alex wipe out his friend without a second thought.

Garet was shocked. "Isaac still wants to talk?" He thought. "Alex used us to try to rule the world, now he's probably killed Felix and threatened to do the same to us and Isaac still isn't mad?" Garet's instincts told him to attack, but he remained still since Felix's preemptive strike hadn't gone so well. He could see that Mia and Jenna were dealing with similar quandaries.

"How perceptive of you." Alex sneered. "If you are so highly informed, what then, is my objective?"

"You're going to stick to your little plan to use alchemy to control the world. And it won't work." Isaac said.

Alex laughed smugly. "Oh? And what's to stop me? You and your little _friends_? That cycloptic rock 'god' who stopped me last time? Once I defeat you and absorb your power he will be no match for me."

What was he talking about? Isaac wondered. What power did he have that could be used to defeat the Wise one?

"Neither the elements nor the people of Weyard will submit to your control. You'd have to destroy them both, as neither could exist within your icy grip." Isaac said.

"Then so be it."

"That's insane!" Isaac shouted "You've seen what happens to the world without its elemental energy! And you would wipe out its people too? There will be nothing left when you finish!"

"You mock what you cannot possibly understand…"

They glared at each other as they drew their swords. Isaac, his unfailing Gaia Blade, honed to a perfect edge by Jenna's expertise. Alex, his nameless blade of unknown origin. Its surface was clear with a mirror finish, the ambient light to the room was caught by the blade and reflected back by the shimmering silver layer just below the blade's surface. The reflections seemed to continue on for an eternity within it.

"… or prevent!"

-------

Wow. This was supposed to be just a quick transition, but it ended up being a lot meatier than I expected it to be. Respond and the like.


	13. Decided by Sword

Finally! The epic cosmic clash to decide the world's fate. But before I start... (Hehe! I love doing this!) recent events have compelled me to add a disclaimer just for safety's sake.

Disclaimer:

A warning to you squeamish types: This is the chapter that earned the Fic its T rating.  
I do not own Golden Sun. If I did, I wouldn't be wasting my highly valuable time writing fanfiction. I would be hard at work coding GS3! This story is for entertainment purposes only. I am not liable for any property damage, injury or loss of sanity that may result from reading it. Readers of this fan fiction may experience headaches, dizziness, loss of appetite, dry mouth, fatigue, rickets, or feelings that they are but insignificant motes of dust in the midst of a vast uncaring universe. If you are pregnant, nursing, or may become pregnant, (Don't think I won't find out.) do not read this fanfic. I congratulate anyone that actually had the attention span to read this far and would like to tell them that they have far too much free time. Disclaimer over, you can start reading the story now... Wtf? are you still here? Ok, seriously, stop reading this, I'm just wasting your time and messing with your head because I find your frustration with my constant delays amusing. For God's sake skip to the story now, you don't want to encourage this kind of behavior. Get to the story, come on! It's like three lines down! Just one click of the scroll wheel. Go, read my fanfic. Now. Didn't stop reading the disclaimer, did you? You have no willpower. Well I suppose I'll keep going since you're so intent on reading this. I am the very model of a modern major general I have a very... Ok, now I'm bored too. I hope you're happy!

Chapter 12:

Isaac charged at Alex, the others withholding their attacks so they wouldn't hit him accidentally. Alex stood perfectly still until the very last moment.

Isaac felt his Gaia Blade lurch in his hands as Alex whipped his Katana in front of him to block the strike with inconceivable speed.

Instead of taking notice of Alex's speed, A triumphant smile spread over Isaac's face.

"Just as I thought." He said. "You can only use that attack once."

"Indeed, but you didn't really think that I would come with only one attack in mind did you?"

Alex cast a simple Frost on the pool of water at his feet. Instead of going straight up, the ice pillar shot out at an angle to strike Isaac in the chest, sending him flying backwards.

Isaac landed on his back and turned his head towards the others.

"You guys waiting for an invitation?"

Garet's Axe ignited, and psynergetic auras wreathed the others. While Garet spun his axe around his head, the flames quickly building into a huge fireball and forming a ring of flame about him, Jenna unleashed a savage Flare Storm. Alex held up his hand. The rush of flame that instantly appeared to Alex's side bent around the invisible barrier of psynergy he had created.

Just then, the great fireball streaked out of the inferno that surrounded Garet. Alex made a pulling gesture with his left hand and the ice pillar straightened up to take the blow. The pillar was destroyed, but Alex still stood unharmed.

Mia was last to attack, she waved her Crystal Rod and a barrage of ice spikes appeared and shot at Alex. He waved his hand in front of him and the spikes instantly liquefied, splashing harmlessly against him.

"If you're all quite finished…" He said. "Supercool."

There was a low rumble. Isaac jumped up and readied himself for the attack. The others all took a step back. Thick, six-foot ice spikes materialized and shot up from the floor. Garet heated up his axe to melt the spikes around him before they could do any serious damage. Mia defended herself by pointing the spikes away for her with her psynergy. Isaac and Jenna both managed to dodge the worst of them, but Jenna got a nasty cut on her leg.

"Perfect" Alex thought. If he knew Mia, and he did, this would be where she would let her guard down to compassionately rush to the aid of the injured.

"Jenna!" Mia yelled.

"Like Clockwork." Alex thought.

He drew some water from the fountain with his psynergy. The watermelon-sized droplet hovered in the air for a moment as he focused his mind on it. Isaac knew that he had to stop Alex's attack. He brandished his sword in front of him, a barrage of thin stone spires firing from it with great speed. Alex gave no sign that he was aware of them, but an opaque wall of ice erupted from the floor next to him, just large enough to protect him. The spires stabbed into the wall cracking the ice, but the wall still stood.

Alex hurled the floating mass of water at Mia. It froze instantly as it hit her shoulder, crystals of ice cascading down her arm. She hit the floor heavily, her Crystal Rod clattering on the floor next to her. Jenna struggled to her feet and launched a powerful Searing Beam at Alex's ice wall. Isaac felt a strangely familiar wave of psynergy as the wall shattered. Where had he felt that before?

Now that Alex had nothing to hide behind, Garet saw his opportunity. Yet, when the smoke cleared Alex was no longer standing behind the smashed wall, he was standing behind…

"Jenna!" Garet yelled.

She whirled around just in time to block Alex's attack with her Atropos' Rod, but she had put too much weight on her injured leg. She shrieked in pain and fell to the floor at Alex's feet.

"The first of many." Alex said as he raised his sword behind his head to finish her off.

A fireball knocked the sword out of Alex's hands before he could strike the killing blow. The sword spun through the air and pierced into the floor several yards away. He turned just in time to see Garet bull rush him, driving his powerful shoulder into his chest. Garet felt a soft impact, but saw that Alex had flown ten feet into the air.

"He's not even wearing armor that arrogant little-"

Garet had to stop and stare at what he saw next.

Alex tucked into a back flip before thrusting his legs out under himself and making a perfect landing on his feet. He quickly knelt to the ground to lessen the impact. Without even looking up, he extended his right hand. There was a flash of light, and his sword appeared in it. Instead of standing he tensed and took a great flying leap at Garet. Garet thought that Alex had lost his mind, there was no way Alex could get through his mighty axe with that flimsy wire of a weapon. Garet raised his axe to block the blow.

When the two weapons clashed, Garet found that Alex had put all his weight and speed behind that strike. It hit much harder than he had anticipated, knocking him off his feet. As Garet lay on his back, Alex quickly ran up and touched him on the shoulder. The two vanished in a flash of light.

"So that's it!" Isaac thought. "He's using warp!"

Isaac saw another flash from high above, Garet and Alex had appeared near the ceiling. Alex vanished again, leaving Garet to fall.

"NO!" Isaac yelled. Garet would never survive a fall like that. He had to get over there, maybe he could soften the ground there. He had to do something!

Another flash and Alex appeared in front of him. He concentrated the power of the warp psynergy surrounding him into his hand and slammed his fist against Isaac's chest. Isaac was thrown backwards at the far wall. He stretched out his hand towards a pillar to weaken the stone. When he struck it, it crunched under the impact. That, plus his armor, saved him from any broken bones, but he still fell to the floor in a daze.

Mia rolled over and raised her free hand. A shimmering column of water materialized underneath Garet, momentarily wavering under the effort needed to keep it standing. "Sleet, help me with this." Mia said, her voice cracking under the strain. A Djinni appeared with a small blue flicker and immediately started focusing its psynergy on the column. The water's wobbling stabilized just in time. Garet struck it, sending showers of water in all directions. Mia released her psynergy and slipped into unconsciousness. The water trickled away and vanished, revealing a soaked Garet, on his knees and choking a bit, but alive.

"It would seem the unity that was their greatest weakness is also their greatest strength, I can take them on one-on-one, but it seems that I'm always being interrupted." Alex thought. "I need to even the odds, and since I can't make less of _them…_" His thoughts were interrupted by Garet charging him again. Alex held up a hand and the water in Garet's clothes froze solid, locking him in place. The ice steamed and cracked as Garet heated it to try to escape. Alex forced his psynergy into the ice to keep it frozen, the resulting clash of psynergy created an explosion that sent both of them flying.

Jenna looked up as Garet crashed into a pile of rubble next to her. Even with all the chaos around her, and the pain of her freely bleeding leg she couldn't help noticing the long, thin crack that had appeared on Garet's axe. "Thermal shock…" she muttered. "Hmph, maybe I have been spending too much time at the forge. That gives me an idea though…"

Garet wasted no time in getting up to mount another attack. "His skin is as thick as his head." Alex muttered. "Enough of this!"

Alex warped behind Garet and grabbed him. When they appeared again, Garet found that his hand has been warped into the stone wall next to him. He grabbed his wrist and fell to his knees from pain and shock. Alex drew back his sword and went in for the kill.

"Isaac?" Isaac tried to turn to look for the source of the voice, but he felt weak and movement pained him. What was that bright light coming from the door? "Isaac you must wake up!"

"Five more minutes…" He groaned blearily.

"ISAAC! This is neither the time nor the place!"

Kraden's familiar scolding brought him back. Isaac looked up and saw Kraden hanging from the wall. "Kraden!" He coughed. He strained and struggled to get up. He had to free Kraden, but he couldn't breathe, his bent armor was crushing his chest. Isaac swung his sword and broke the bonds that held Kraden's legs. His vision got fuzzy as he swung for and arm shackle.

"Watch where you're swinging that Isaac!"

He focused his attention with all his might and broke the two last rings before falling to the floor. Kraden knelt down to untie the straps and buckles that held Isaac's battered chest plate on.

A bolt of lightning hit Alex in the face. He was blinded and staggered backwards covering his face as another barrage of bolts hit him. A large, hulking warrior clad in vibrant fuchsia knight armor burst through the open doors swinging an impossibly large two-handed sword over his head.

Alex's hands glowed as he healed his face. He removed them to face his new attacker. Just in time too, for he narrowly avoided a powerful strike from the warrior's blade. The two quickly started exchanging rapid blows. Alex danced around the larger fighter, who still moved with considerable dexterity considering his size.

"Who _is_ that?" Jenna asked.

"That's Navampa!" Peeped a small voice from behind her.

She turned to see Zephyr sitting on the ground next to Mia.

"He had a premonition about this battle so he had to come stop it. He rounded us up and came to the rescue!"

Zephyr sounded positively ecstatic about not being left behind.

"What was his premonition?" Jenna asked.

Zephyr hesitated.

"We should try to wake Mia." It said. "Sleet is worried about her."

Jenna walked over to Mia. She broke up the ice on her arm with a small fireball. She cast cool aura, hoping to purge the ice from her arm.

"I don't think that will work. Might I give it a try?"

Jenna looked up and saw Isaac walking over.

"Go ahead, I'm out of ideas."

Isaac knelt down and laid a hand on Mia's forehead. He cast revive and soothing psynergy soaked into her from the floor below. Mia stirred slightly.

"Allow her to wake slowly." He said. "I'm going to free Garet."

Sleet sprayed a jet of water on her face and Mia awoke with a start.

"What did I _just_ say?" Isaac sighed and walked over towards Garet.

"It's all right Mia." Jenna said.

"All right? You trailed blood all the way over here!"

Jenna looked back and saw that the wound on her leg was much worse than she'd thought.

"Spring." Mia said. The Djinni blinked into existence and began focusing its healing energy on Jenna's leg. The wound quickly closed up.

A purple plasma bolt shot over their heads and exploded on the wall behind them. Mia looked over at the battle that was raging in the center of the room. Alex was deflecting a volley of lightning bolts with his sword.

"Apparently I missed something." Mia said.

"Navampa showed up! And he's going to save all your sorry butts!" The ever excited Zephyr said.

"Aha… and what are you doing here?"

"Navampa brought all the Djinn you guys left behind to come here and fight. He unleashed me because he remembered that Felix told him speed was important!"

Navampa was fighting pretty well for someone who didn't know how to shoot any lightning at all just hours ago.

"How many Djinn does he _have_?" Jenna asked.

"Seventeen." Zephyr said.

"Is that safe?"

"No."

Isaac reached the trapped Garet, he couldn't resist asking:

"What seems to be the problem here?"

Garet shook his left fist in the air.

"Get closer, I want to punch you."

He paid him no mind as he set to the task of removing Garet's other hand from the wall. He moved Garet's axe out of the way and stepped over to the wall. He placed his left hand on it, and grabbed Garet's wrist with the other. He energized the wall, slowly transmuting it into sand. He pulled and Garet's wrist slowly began to shift. He continued, all too aware of the battle going on behind him.

Mia continued to observe the fight. Navampa was moving pretty fast, but Alex was still much smaller and nimbler.

"We've got to slow Alex down." Mia said. "Navampa is holding his own, but Alex will wear him down."

"Did you have anything in mind?" Jenna asked.

Mia looked down at the Djinn on the floor next to her. She stood and said:

"Yes I do. Navampa! Get down!"

Navampa didn't know what she was planning, but Mia spoke with such authority he felt that it would be in his best interest to listen. He knocked Alex back with a blast of wind and hid behind a pillar.

Mia raised a hand and shouted

"MOLOCH!"

The three Djinn began to glow. A swirling mass of snowflakes blew onto the floor. An enormous hairy beast, like a four-legged yeti burst from it. The creature reared back its head and unleashed a mighty torrent of snow. Alex had only enough time to cover his face before the blast hit him. The razor sharp snowflakes shot at him with incredible speed, stinging his skin and forcing the cold deep into his body. The swirling winds enveloped the creature and it vanished. Alex stood still, bleeding and covered in razor-sharp ice crystals, but still ready to fight.

Navampa was more than happy with his opportunity. He ran out to strike Alex anew. Alex tried to raise his weapon to defend, but the movement caused him great pain. Just as Alex winced, Navampa's sword collided with his. The force of the impact sent Alex flying through the air, shattered frost scattering everywhere. No graceful landing this time. Alex fell hard on his back.

"The one element I wasn't prepared for!" Alex hissed through clenched teeth. "Looks like I'll have to use up another of my _surprises._" Alex stood shakily, in time to see that Navampa was charging at him yet again. He summoned another reserve of great power from within him. He raised his hand and bellowed: "DJINN BLAST!"

Navampa was knocked backwards as the dazed and drained Djinn were forced from his body. Alex wasted no time in pressing his advantage. He shot a bolt of ice at Navampa's foot, freezing it to the floor. He lunged and swung upwards at Navampa's face, hitting him in the eye. Navampa covered his face with his left hand and swung blindly with his right. Alex sliced off Navampa's right hand, it and his weapon falling to the floor. Alex bashed his shoulder against Navampa's chest, his frozen leg snapping off at the knee. "Plume Edge!" He yelled as he leapt into the air. Huge torrents of water shot out from under Navampa. Alex fell down through them to drive his sword into Navampa's chest. Panting, he heaved his bloody sword out of Navampa's body and vanished in a flash of light.

"I've got to hurry!" Isaac thought. "Navampa beat him up pretty bad, but it won't be long before his attention returns to us." He couldn't see too well through the glow his psynergy was creating, but he estimated that Garet's hand was halfway out.

Alex reappeared. He was completely uninjured. He had also taken notice of Isaac's valiant effort to save Garet.

"Freeze Prism."

Garet and Isaac looked up. There was a tiny flash of fire psynergy before a gargantuan crystal came down upon them both.

"GARET!" Mia yelled.

Jenna ran over to see if there was some possible way they could've survived.

Mia's anguish quickly changed to fury as she heard Alex's triumphant laugh. She felt her rage escape her in a rush of psynergy. An icicle grew from her outstretched hands, but this was no normal attack. The icicle continued to grow with lightning speed until it was fifty feet long by the time it reached Alex.

Alex held up a hand and erected a barrier of psynergy, confident it could block any attack. There was barely time for him to feel shock as the rapidly growing icicle smashed the barrier and stabbed into his hand. He struggled as the ice spread up his arm and soon covered his whole body. Mia released the psynergy and fell to her knees. The great icicle hung in the air for a moment before breaking and vanishing. All that remained of it was the frozen Alex.

----------

Who's up for popsicles! Well I can't say much more... Carpal-tunnel... gah...


	14. Suspicious Victory

I was nervous, that being the first battlescene and all, but it looks like it turned out allright.

Chapter 13:

"Mia! I think they're-"

Jenna was interrupted by the crash of a stone fist breaking through the side of the giant ice crystal.

"…Alive."

More crashes followed and Jenna saw that the stone fist belonged to Garet. He and Isaac walked out through the hole. Jenna looked in and saw that Garet had managed to melt a small indentation in the ice just before impact, it was just large enough to keep them from being crushed. The pair took notice of the frozen Alex.

"That's really cool." Garet said.

"Have you ever considered a career as a sculptor?" Isaac asked.

Mia laughed weakly as she fumbled in her pack for a Psy Crystal. She finally found one and held it in the air. The crystal vanished, refreshing Mia's psynergy. In her usual fashion, she set to healing the two boys. Isaac had a lot of bruises on his chest, but they were no problem. Garet had kept fighting like there was nothing going on, but Mia found that he had three cracked ribs and was bleeding profusely from several places on his torso and non-stone arm.

"Is there anything that can be done for it Mia?" Isaac asked, gesturing at Garet's hand, which was now petrified into a tight fist of the same smooth, flawless green stone that composed the chamber's walls. Set in stone as it were.

"That's your element not mine." Mia said. "There's nothing that can be done so far as healing."

"I'm sure I'll think of something…"

Isaac broke off as he noticed that Mia was walking of the door.

"Why does she want to go so soon?" He thought. "Felix!" He had completely forgotten.

Isaac rushed outside to find Felix lying unconscious on his back at the end of a thin scrape in the ground that his impact had created. Three Mercury Djinn were tending his wounds, though Mia was still clambering over scattered boulders to reach him.

"Where did you guys come from?" Isaac asked.

The Djinn were too focused on their work to acknowledge Isaac. Mia appeared similarly oblivious to his presence. She simply knelt beside Felix and laid her hand on his head.

"He's in shock. We'll have to wait for this fever to break before we try to revive him." She said. Mia then raised her hand and waved it in the air, a thin layer of frost dusted Felix's muddy, matted hair.

Isaac got a closer look at Felix as he arrived at his side. His clothes were torn and he was beaten badly. Large wounds on his head and chest were covered by crude bandages made of a coarse cloth. A slab of shale was tied to his right leg as a splint, as there was no wood available.

Isaac knew that he had seen that cloth before…

"Navampa." Mia said, never looking up from her patient. "He must've brought some Mercury Djinn as well, and found Felix before he entered."

"We owe him a lot." Isaac said. He had been so focused on the battle, that he had barely given Navampa's sacrifice a second thought.

"It's how he would've wanted it." Said Mia. "In battle."

"Hmph. Perhaps, but this wasn't his fight. He didn't deserve that."

"He's made it clear that he wanted his teacher to live though…"

Inside the strange chamber, Garet regarded the awkward conversation going on outside with only casual interest. He hadn't sensed Felix's death, and that was good enough for him. He walked over to Alex's crystal prison.

"What are you doing Garet?" Jenna asked.

"Something doesn't feel right." He replied. "Alex shouldn't have been that easy to defeat."

"Oh, yeah. That was a complete _cakewalk!_"

Garet ignored that, and a few other snide comments and continued towards the ice crystal.

The ice was a clear blue, but thick enough to distort the image of its occupant. Garet squinted and leaned towards it. The crystal visage of the frozen Alex glared back at him. Something wasn't right. He was sure of it now. Garet tapped the surface of the ice gently with his stone fist. The sound echoed dully.

"Just as I thought." Garet said.

Without warning, Garet drew back his fist and smashed the top half of the ice crystal off. He found that inside was… nothing.

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OMG! Alex is like... not dead! The story isn't over... and stuff...

ok, reply and the like.


	15. A New Fight

Chapter 14:

Isaac and Mia had stabilized Felix and were heading back inside. They ran in at the sound of the crash to see what was wrong. They saw Garet inspecting the Alex-shaped hole in the ice.

"He warped out." Garet said, before they could ask what the heck he was doing.

"Very good!" Alex's voice called out. "I realized that I risked my element of surprise by allowing you so long to recover. Yet I never thought that it would be the _oaf_ that figured it out."

"Ready your weapons!" Isaac ordered, primarily to convince the others that this was really happening.

Everyone's weapons snapped to their attack positions. Garet hefted his axe awkwardly with his left hand.

"You would really continue to fight Isaac? Is this really how you want your friends to spend their last days?"

Isaac's expression became as dark and sullen as it had ever been.

"Eons from now…" He said. "Long after our last days; our descendants will celebrate the anniversary of YOURS!"

Garet's axe began to glow brightly.

"You know how much I like to celebrate!" He said.

A deafening roar of raging flame filled the air as Garet charged at Alex.

"FLARE BURST!" He bellowed, swinging his axe downward at Alex.

Alex made no movement or response to Garet's attack. As the flaming axe crashed against the floor Alex was obscured by the torrent of flame. The smoke cleared and Garet hefted his red-hot axe from the charred indentation it had burned into the floor. The bricks of the floor still smoldered, they were warped and cracked from the heat. Garet's attack had hit with full force, but there was one thing missing. No Alex.

Garet flung his axe as Alex appeared nearby. Alex shot a blast of icy water at the flying axe. The hot axe clashed with the cold water, and exploded in a rush of steam. Alex's savoring of his victory was interrupted by Garet flying out of the cloud and driving his stone fist into Alex's chest.

There was a crack of bone and Alex fell backwards. He screamed, less in pain and more in rage that he had fallen for such a simple diversion. Garet felt a wave of Mercury psynergy as Alex healed himself before vanishing again. A crestfallen Garet surveyed the remains of his Apollo's Axe. "That could've gone better…" He said.

"Yeah, like it went _sooo_ perfect the other five times you tried charging him!" Jenna said.

"And I suppose you have a better plan?"

"As a matter of fact I do."

Alex reappeared in due time, fully healed and ready to fight. Yet the adepts stood flat-footed and waited for him to make a move. When Alex did the same, Isaac gave the signal and all four released powerful projectile psynergy attacks. Alex collected a pool of water at his feet, froze it, and levitated it into the air. All of their attacks had missed, but the group still remained assembled. Alex knew something was up.

"Why hasn't their little brute charged me again?" He thought "They're planning something. They look like they'd be quite vulnerable to a fast melee strike, but I'll bet that's just what they want me to do. Whatever it is they're planning, it must take all of them or they wouldn't be standing so close together. I'll have to break them up a little first, and then strike them down one by one. This should provide sufficient distraction."

Alex landed and thrust forth both his hands sending forth two giant streams of water. The right one cracked like a whip and sent Isaac flying into the opposite corner of the room, the other splashed against Mia's chest and froze instantly on contact, encasing her in ice. Garet and Jenna immediately set to freeing her. Alex took flight again and headed for Isaac. Isaac was struggling to stand as Alex hovered near him. "The tight bonds within you party are their greatest strength." Alex said. "But your concern for each other is your greatest weakness. Once I take care of your little friends I shall finally have what I need." Isaac formed the ground into a field of stone spires, at the same time a Searing Beam shattered Alex's floating ice. Alex jumped all too late and one of his shoulders was punctured by a spire as he fell. Once again, he vanished.

"Was any of _that _part of the plan Jenna?"

"Shut up Garet. I told you to think on your feet."

Isaac remained on his knees and turned towards the group. "He saw through it. He knew we wanted him to attack close range." He said. "We'll have to make this look a lot less obvious. Don't stay bunched together, wait until he attacks one of you and then go for it."

"What about you?" Mia asked.

"I'm not going anywhere, besides; I get the distinct impression that he wants me alive. He said that I have something he wants."

Alex stood outside the chamber, healing the wound on his shoulder. "One-on-one I can take them easily, but they never give me that chance." He thought. "I'll just have to make a party of my own. I never finished testing this technique, but it seems to be my only option."

Alex reappeared in the chamber, a considerable distance from his adversaries. Without a word he warped in front of Garet, then back again. He did so with increasing speed at various places around the room, most of them within striking distance of the adepts. Isaac knew they couldn't attack however, he was warping too fast for them to know where he was and make an accurate strike.

"Don't try to attack! Isaac ordered. "He can't keep this up forever!"

An omniscient voice, Alex's, seemed to emanate from everywhere in the room.

"Who said I was going to?"

Soon enough the warp slowed, but when it came to a stop, all the warp points didn't condense back into one Alex. Instead, eight separate Alexes now stood before them. In perfect unison, they spoke.

"Let's see how _you_ like being outnumbered!"

-------

Wow. That was painfully suspenseful.

Anyway, at this point, I have a decision to make that I have decided to leave up to you, the readers. I can either bring out the rest of this battle all at once in about a week, or I can continue this barrage of cliffhangers with chapters every few days. I prefer the second option myself because suspense is what keeps such long battles exciting, and because I'll be able to get feedback on how the battle is going. But I don't want to give you an angry twitch with this many cliffhangers. Let me know what you think!


	16. Underhanded

Well Chris was the only one to comment on how I should break up the battle, so blame him!

On to the blitz of incredibly suspenseful cliffhangers!

Chapter 15:

He had been thrashing all four of them for some time. Now _two_ of him stood before each of the adepts. Isaac looked over and saw three of the Alexes fighting with his group of friends, the other three were hanging back a ways and healing the fighters. Something was strange about the way his friends were fighting. (Something other than the fact that Garet was swinging his stone fist instead of an axe.) The action was fast paced and it was difficult to tell, but it looked like his friends were fighting strangely off-balance. "I'm sure they're a bit overwhelmed by there suddenly being so many Alexes, but they've never let fear or surprise affect their fighting style like this." Isaac thought. "There must be something else."

His thoughts were interrupted by the attack of his own Alex. Isaac immediately noticed the difference, he managed a lopsided parry. "Now I see what's giving them trouble." He thought. "Alex has dramatically altered his fighting style, but I just can't pin down how!" After a rapid exchange of blows, Isaac stepped backwards in a feint and stabbed across at the right side of Alex's abdomen. Alex easily blocked the strike with a small barrier he formed in his right hand. Isaac stepped back into a defensive posture. "He's never done that before!" He thought. "Why has it changed so much?"

Then he remembered, Alex had blocked the strike with his _right _hand, the one he wielded his sword with. Isaac looked up at his foe. "That's what's different!" He thought. Isaac braced the flat of his sword with his left hand to block Alex's downward slash and yelled to the other adepts. "He's fighting left handed! Shift your balance!" The others switched their fighting stance to lead with their left foot. Suddenly they were no longer scrambling to defend themselves.

Isaac returned to the battle at hand. He had put himself in a very compromising position to give himself the time to tell to his friends, and now Alex would force him to the ground anytime soon, not to mention the other Alex waiting in the wings. "Just hovering there, waiting for a chance to strike me down." Isaac thought. "Wait. _Hovering_ there. If a mercury adept can levitate water, maybe…" Isaac reached out with his psynergy to the green floor tile below Alex and yanked it up from the floor, taking Alex along with it. He tossed the tile at the hovering Alex and the two crashed into each other in mid air.

The flying Alex caught the other, who soon formed a floating ice sheet of his own. "That drove them back several feet, but that still didn't buy me much time to think of something." Isaac thought. When they had crashed in the air Isaac had noticed that their swords were on opposite sides. He stole a glance at the battle in the opposite corner of the room. All of those Alexes were indeed fighting left-handed. "So I have the only right handed one. Interesting…" Both Alexes charged at him through the air. Suddenly there was a loud crunching sound. The pillar Isaac had been thrown against earlier fell over with a thunderous crash, crushing one Alex and forcing the other to break off his attack. "That was brilliant! I wish I had thought of it…" Isaac thought.

Alex wasted no time in lashing Isaac with a large whip of water, knocking him back over some of the debris the pillar's collapse had created. He was about to move in on Isaac, but he was distracted by the sound of clattering metal. Alex turned to see that Kraden had dropped the iron rod that he had wedged into the crack of the pillar to tip it over. Kraden was knocked away by the water whip in due course. Alex floated over the rubble and came to rest on the opposite side. No sign of Isaac, but a robed figure lay face-down on the cracked stone floor. Alex approached with sword drawn.

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0MGUB3RM4G1CBULL1T0F5U5P3N5e!1!11!1eleven!

The fighting in this chapter may have been a bit tough to visualize, let me know if I should clarify anything.


	17. Imperfect Victory

Chapter 16:

The intense melee between the group of six Alexes and the three adepts continued at a fevered pace. Now that they had adjusted their fighting style to match their opposition they had regained some measure of control over the fight. Jenna decided it was time to try her plan. She needed a close melee strike from Alex, she hadn't counted on three attacks at once by a party of six, but it still might work. She gave a nod to Garet who sprung into action.

Garet knocked back his Alex with his stone fist while Jenna set the floor aflame between the two parties to prevent further interruptions. Mia and Jenna were still locked in combat with their respective Alexes, but Garet was free to interfere. He ran over to Mia's side and blocked a strike by the Alex she was fighting. He laid his other hand on the flat of the blade and poured into it a torrent of fire psynergy. Alex's blade glowed red hot in an instant. It took that same instant for a kick from Alex to knock Garet backwards, but he had done his part. Mia raised her crystal rod and blocked Alex's next swing with the jewel at its tip. Alex's superheated weapon was instantly coated with ice.

The glow of the intensely heated metal seeped through the thick coating of ice. There was a sickening screech and the weapon exploded. The force of the explosion drove Alex back and peppered his face with shards of metal. Mia swiftly conjured an ice spike on the tip of her Crystal Rod and rammed it into Alex's chest.

Mia withdrew the spike and Alex fell backwards. He lay unmoving on the floor for a moment. Then his image flickered and vanished. Yet there was no surge of psynergy that accompanied Warp. She could sense that the entity they had been fighting was well and truly gone.

"All we have to do is strike a lethal hit and they disappear!" Garet said.

Jenna, still locked in combat with her doppelganger, was less thrilled with this revelation. "If it was that easy to strike a lethal blow on Alex we wouldn't be in this situation!" She yelled.

The other two adepts rushed to help her, but were blocked by a rush of ice spires that had broken through the wall of fire. The other four clones leapt though the breech and rejoined the battle. Jenna was forced to release the psynergy. Something told her that they would be ready for it if she tried her plan again.

Alex stood triumphantly over the crumpled body before him. Choked breath lifted the back of the thick cloak. A strained voice emanated from it.

"Help me…"

Alex couldn't resist toying with his quarry. He knelt down and extended his left hand. The downed figure grasped it with surprising strength, and quickly twisted it. Alex gasped with shock and pain, so much so that he dropped his weapon. His gang of duplicates also winced, allowing an opening for Jenna and Garet to quickly dispatch theirs.

"Just as I thought." A triumphant voice said from behind Alex. "The replicas feel his pain, because _he_ is the real Alex."

Alex turned to see Kraden standing behind him, standing as proudly as he could in his wrinkled undergarments.

"Well played old man." Alex said.

"You have no idea."

Alex made the fatal realization all too late as a sword shot out from under the robes and slashed him across the chest. The clones bent forward clutching their chests, providing the opportunity for the defeat of two more. The hood of the cloak fell back to reveal Isaac's face. Alex glared at Isaac with a look of pure rage as he warped away. Isaac fell back to the floor.

The one surviving clone was fighting hard against the three adepts but he was still losing ground. Little did the adepts know that he was only waiting for his opportunity. When all three of his opponents' strikes coincided, he sent a bolt of psynergy through their weapons. All three adepts were blown back and shackled to the wall with four rings of ice each. The clone surveyed the scene, glancing over at the unmoving Isaac.

"Won seven out of eight…" He said. "But it only takes one."

-------

In case you want to use it in your reviews, the emoticon for twitch is 0. 


	18. Omitted

I felt kind of bad about jerking you around with all the cliffhangers, so I've given this one a much less suspenseful ending.

Chapter 17:

The clone approached Mia.

"So this is the only other remnant of the ancient Mercury clan." It said. "I would've expected better…" Mia clenched her fists in fury.

The double continued: "Your birthright put a great destiny before you. And you chose not to accept it." Frost spider webbed across the wall Mia was attached to, her rage seeking escape though her psynergy.

"I was disappointed that you joined with these other pawns instead of joining me in my journey. You could've been as great as I you know. You could've fulfilled the life that was meant for you."

"You left something out Alex." Mia hissed. Her muscles tightened and the psynergy burst forth from her hand. She tore the shackle on her hand from the wall and sent it flying at Alex, using her psynergy to wrap it around his neck. The ring adopted a vivid blue-white glow as she tightened it. "You forgot something very important Alex!" She yelled. Alex was unable to speak, he dropped his sword and fell to his knees trying to pry at the ring with his hands. "You left out the part where you sold out our village and disgraced our clan! The part where you betrayed generations of our ancestors! The part where you desecrated a sacred monument and put the lives of an entire world in danger! The part where you used all of us in your quest for power!! THE PART WHERE …"

The ring fell to the floor and shattered. The clone had vanished. Mia set to freeing the others, no one said anything as she headed over to Isaac. Mia's footsteps echoed through the chamber. Mia healed the injuries Isaac had sustained, he was on his feet in minutes. He handed the cloak back to Kraden.

"We shall never speak of this again." Isaac said.

"Agreed." Said Kraden. "I'll go check on Felix."

"You're such a chicken Alex!" Garet yelled into the emptiness. "Every time we gain the slightest advantage, he warps away and heals himself. How are we supposed to fight an enemy like that?"

"And warp isn't his only advantage." Jenna said.

Mia walked over with Isaac.

"It's the only significant one though." She said "We've proven that we can overcome him in combat."

"We can overcome _eight _of him in combat." Said Garet. "But there's nothing to stop him from warping again and making more."

"What about stopping him from healing himself?" Jenna asked.

"The healing psynergies he is using are very potent and draining." Mia said. "But I don't sense any reduction in his psynergy when I face him. I don't think we have the stamina to get him to wear himself out."

A silence followed, all eyes moved to Isaac as they waited for him to speak. Isaac had been dreading this moment; he knew that the others would look to him for a solution, one he didn't have. "We can fight him." He said. "Warp is the only thing he can do that we can't."

The sound of a voice outside came through the doorway. "That is akin to saying that warp is his only advantage." Felix stepped through the door. "And in such a case, the best course of action would be to neutralize that advantage." He said. "And stop him from using warp. Then we'd win hands down."

The situation was too grave for any of them to properly express their relief that Felix was all right.

"How are we supposed to do that?" Garet asked. "None of us know anything about Warp!"

"Kraden?" Isaac said.

Knowing what he meant, Kraden replied: "No mention of Warp or any similar ability other than Teleport is ever made in any of the writings I have ever witnessed. Any information I can provide about Teleport would be useless because of the great disparagement between the two Psynergies. Teleport is capable of moving a person over long distances and takes a relatively long period of unbroken concentration to cast, making it impractical for battle. From what I've seen of Warp, it can be cast almost instantaneously and the user can flash between different points with much greater speed than Teleport. Besides that, Sheba has disappeared, along with the Teleport Lapis and we have no time to study the subject in any sort of appreciable detail. I'm afraid neither I, nor anyone else for that matter possesses the knowledge necessary to block the Wrap psynergy."

"He can say so much even when he's got nothing to say." Said Garet. The others paid him no mind.

"Alex is the only person in the clan to have ever developed that ability." Mia said. "Only he knows how it works."

"It would seem that Alex is the only person possessing the skill and experience that is necessary to affect the warp psynergy in any way." Kraden said.

Jenna could see that this was going nowhere. "Maybe we could just ask him nicely to stop using warp since he's the only one that can control it."

"Somehow I don't think Alex is going to surrender the psynergy that's allowed him to survive this long." Garet said.

"Perhaps we're looking at this the wrong way." Felix said.

"I am At a loss for other ways to look at it." Kraden said. "Perhaps you could elaborate?"

"Why does Alex use warp so much?"

"Because it's all that keeps me from chopping him into tiny little pieces." Garet said. "Well it was, now I have to settle for_ tenderizing_ him for awhile." Garet slammed his stone fist into his hand. "OW! I hurt my other hand!"

Normally Isaac would've been the first to sigh and try to disregard Garet's input, yet he seemed deep in thought as he stared at Garet's stone fist.

"Right, sort of." Said Felix. "And if we can make it so that using warp is no longer an advantage, he'll stop doing it."

"Hmmm" Kraden said. "So we just have to convince him that using warp is a bad idea."

"Just how do we do that?" Garet asked.

Isaac smiled; he finally had his brilliant idea. "I think I can handle the 'convincing.'"

"Good. What do you want us to do?" Felix said.

"Does that mean you're ready to fight Felix?" Isaac asked.

"I'll be the judge of that." Mia gave his leg and torso a thorough examination. "I suppose, considering the stakes, if you really need him he can fight."

"So what's the plan Isaac?" Garet asked.

"He's given us a long break this time, but he'll pick up the pace again when he returns, I'm sure of it. Mia, keep everyone on their feet, we can't afford a moment's interruption. Garet, get him injured and then back off. Jenna, provide… I can think of no more appropriate term than 'cover fire,' for Garet. Felix, you're the best swordsman, get into close combat with him and get him to use Warp. I'll take care of the rest."

--------

Ok, so my little strategy session wasn't much in the excitement department, but I missed the humor and character interactions I had at the beginning. Plus I felt bad about leaving Felix out of the battle. Another reason that I opted for an ending where no one is about to get killed in the next two secons was that I've finally decided that I can no longer keep up this suicidal writing pace. Expect next chapter to take until at least Wednesday, (sorry!) But if you want a quality chapter you can wait. Hang in there!


	19. His Strongest Weakness

Sorry about the delay guys. Our soccer team made sectionals so I didn't have time to write where I thought I would. Plus this one was freakishly long.

Chapter 18:

The crowd of adepts arranged themselves as Isaac had instructed.

"You really think you can do this Felix?" Isaac asked.

"This is not an issue of whether or not I am able to. I must, so I shall." Felix replied.

Isaac walked into the center of the floor, far removed from the other adepts. He closed his eyes and began to focus all his psynergy, all his knowledge, and all his experience on the task that lay ahead for him.

The adepts stood and waited. This was shaping up to be the longest few minutes of their lives, but they knew that they couldn't let their guard down for a second.

Alex reappeared, defiant and confident as ever.

"Come to seek a more valiant death Felix?" He said.

Felix said nothing, only unsheathing his Sol Blade. The two approached each other slowly, no one else made a move. They approached until they were within arm's reach, neither one stirred in the slightest. It wasn't Felix's style to strike first. He had almost been killed because he had been so rash at the start of the battle. He would not make that mistake again. Alex also knew the advantage of letting your opponent make the first move, it would provide the opportunity for a surprise attack. But Alex was all too aware of the other adepts in the room. He and Felix could keep this standoff going for hours, but the others wouldn't tolerate it. "Their little thug will probably charge me again when his attention span runs out. I'll have to be the one to start this." Alex thought.

Alex flipped his sword to wield it underhanded and struck at Felix with an upward swing. Felix was thrown off by the surprise tactic and had to step backwards to block the strike. His weight was too concentrated on his back foot for him to counterattack. Alex seamlessly switched his grip back forward on the handle of his sword at the apex of his swing and shot forth his arm in a savage stab at Felix's chest. Felix dropped his shoulder to let the blade shoot harmlessly over it, using the same motion he brought his other arm upward and snapped his wrist to deliver a jab to Alex's shoulder. Alex leered knowingly al Felix, he had completely predicted this one. Alex leaned back with the attack and took only a small part of the force of the blade. It was still enough to pierce his thick imlian garments and draw blood.

Alex whipped his sword behind him and stuck it into the floor, leaning on it as he kicked Felix's outstretched arm. Felix brought his left hand down on top of the hilt of his sword to keep it from flying out of his hands. He tried to take a step forward to slash at Alex while he was vulnerable. Alex swung his kick into a back flip over his sword. Felix's slash whizzed through the air where Alex had been.

"I can't have a proper duel with this acrobat!" Felix throught. "Our swords have barely touched! He's controlling this fight even though I'm the superior swordsman. If I could just cut down the advantage that his speed gives him a little…"

Alex tore his blade from the floor and swung it across his body to knock Felix's sword to the side. Alex swung his sword level and delivered a quick stab while Felix was still trying to swing his weapon back to the ready. Alex's strike glanced off the edge of Felix's chest plate and struck his left arm just above the elbow. An upward swing from Felix's sword stopped Alex's attack from doing any more damage.

"There's something more going on here." Alex thought. "He has his psynergy charged, but he's not casting anything! What is he waiting for?"

Felix made an obvious forward slash, knowing that if he gave Alex the chance to notice his attack, but not time enough to dodge, he would block instead. The two swung in mirror images as their swords clashed perfectly between them. Alex's lighter weapon shuddered at the collision.

"Now this is more like it!" Felix thought. "Now I'll just have to bide my time until-" He was cut short by another flurry of strikes from Alex.

It had only been a few short moments, yet dozens of blows had been exchanged. The other adepts could only stand and watch as the battle continued with lightning speed. Both combatants mounted impenetrable defenses, and they had to, any lapse in their guard would've been fatal. Neither one wasted any time in pressing their advantage when they gained the slightest edge.

"I can't take him head-on like this," Alex thought. "All my speed will do me no good in such close quarters."

Alex tried to put some distance between him and his opponent, or swing around into a flanking posture, but Felix matched his step and kept him locked in close combat.

"I can't let him get away! Felix thought. "I'll have no chance if he can get out of this deadlock."

Felix saw Alex lean to the right in another attempt to outflank him. He saw Jenna's face reflected in the surface of Alex's blade.

"I had forgotten my friends!" He thought. They're waiting to attack and go through with the plan. Maybe I _should _let him outflank me."

Felix struck forward, making sure to allow Alex to dodge and dash by him. Alex managed a quick slash at the gap in Felix's armor below his already injured arm as he passed. It pained him to move his arm, but Felix knew what he had to do. He swung his arm and hit Alex in the back with his elbow. Alex stumbled forward and only managed to stop several paces ahead of where he intended to. This gave Felix the time he needed to literally turn the battle around. He spun to face Alex and charged forward; putting him into the same deadlock he had just escaped from. Felix's Sol blade was unruly and imbalanced because he couldn't properly grip it with his throbbing left arm. He knew he wouldn't last long, but he had done his part.

Alex and Felix locked swords again, this time, with Alex's back to Jenna. She took this as the signal to strike. She didn't shout her spell out loud, but concentrated on it wordlessly. It was more difficult to focus the psynergy into a coherent strike this way, but she couldn't risk alerting Alex to her attack.

She formed a small bright ball of flame which hovered over her palm. Her hands shook with the effort it took to keep the psynergy concentrated into such a small space. She brought down her other hand on top of the fireball and smashed it. Raging amorphous infernos burst from the sides of the fireball as its energy was released. The two torrents of flame swelled upwards and crashed into each other forming a giant set of dragon jaws.

The great firestorm arched its neck and leapt forth, the blazing light casting a hellish red overtone on everything in the room. Alex couldn't escape from his grapple with Felix in time. The immense infernal beast clamped its gaping maw on Alex's back, exploding fiercely on impact. His grip on his blade loosened just enough for Felix to push through and strike Alex's forehead. Alex recovered just in time to grab Felix's wrist to keep him from splitting his head in half, and then toss Felix into the pyre that still burned where Jenna's Dragon Fume attack had hit.

"Felix!" Jenna yelled. She stepped forward, but didn't dare to rush in to save Felix now that there was no one to distract Alex. That changed momentarily. Garet leapt through the flames swinging his stone fist at Alex. He easily evaded Garet's slow, brutish strikes, but it was enough to keep him occupied.

Jenna quickly ran up and extinguished the blaze with a wave of her hand. Jenna stood and took stock of their situation as Mia rushed over to heal Felix. Garet had been cut lightly a few times, but he otherwise defended himself remarkably well. They had definitely done their job of injuring Alex. His thick clothes were heavy with blood. She smiled as she looked down at her brother's Sol Blade and saw tufts of blue hair still sticking to its surface. Her brother was quite badly burned, but she had faith in Mia's abilities. Isaac gave no sign that he was even aware of the battle going on around him at all.

"I wish he had told us more about what he was going to do to 'convince' Alex to use Warp one more time." Mia said. "Now none of us can do it for him."

"You act as if he would let us if we asked." Jenna said

Felix stirred. "_You _act as if I can't hear you!"

"Hmph! Well whatever it is that you're going to do you'd better make it quick!"

Jenna was right; Garet had fallen severely behind in his battle with Alex. The short reach of his "weapon" left him at a severe disadvantage. He was breathless from chasing Alex around and wouldn't last much longer. The battle continued to degrade as she watched. Garet cast an Inferno spell to create a huge cloud of fireballs that all homed in on Alex and hurled their flaming might upon him. Alex almost looked as if he was going to laugh at this display. He raised his hand and said "Cryo-freeze!" A wave of bitter cold air shot from his hand and blocked the fireballs as if they were nothing but light wisps of smoke.

"Help me up." Felix said.

"You're not going anywhere." Mia declared.

"We have few other options Mia."

Alex slashed Garet across the chest. There was a loud crunch as his armor cracked, followed by Garet doubling over and falling on the floor. Alex began to advance on the other adepts. Jenna knew that she had to keep him back, none of her friends were in any position to fight. The Jewel on he Atropos' Rod shone brightly with her psynergy.

"Searing Beam!" She yelled.

A streak of highly energetic flame shot from her weapon. Shockwaves of super-heated gas radiated from it as it tore through the air. Alex showed no sign of slowing his approach only thrusting forth his hand saying:

"Cryo crystal!"

Another bolt of super cold air rushed outward. This one was so cold that the Jenna could see the air. Everything on the other side of the cloud was distorted by a strange blue miasma. There was a muffled concussion shock as the beam struck the wave of cold. All of its energy vanished into the cloud, leaving only shards of frost to fall to the ground.

"Mia?" Felix said.

Mia could see that there was no other way now. She finally gave in and helped Felix to his feet. He was surprised by the strength of her hands as she pulled him up from the floor.

Alex's blade glowed with an eerie blue halo of psynergetic light. Alex raised the blade above his head as it began to emit an unearthly howl. "Hoarfrost!" He yelled. As he swung the blade downwards, beams of frozen energy shot out from it and lanced across the floor. Jenna cast flare storm in front of her to protect herself from the cold. When the attack reached the flare storm, it momentarily splayed outwards before extinguishing the flames and continuing on. Jenna vanished as the energy flowed over her. The attack swept past and covered the wall behind her in a thick coating of ice. A cloud of frozen mist still hung there, obscuring Jenna's fate.

Alex turned to face Felix.

"It's time to get _persuasive._" Felix readied his Sol Blade. "Heal Garet. You won't be of any use here."

Mia needed no further prompting to run to Garet's side.

Felix looked down at his Sol Blade. "If I have ever needed it, I need it now." He whispered. Felix was still weak and couldn't manage a run. He stood his ground and waited for Alex to approach.

Alex struck first with a downward slash. Felix raised his blade to block it and felt a shift in the psynergetic flow of the weapon; the shift he had been waiting for. The Sol Blade began to radiate a blinding glow of Venus psynergy Felix jumped into the air and shouted "Megiddo!" A burning meteor formed itself from the aura of light. Felix used his glowing blade to hurl the behemoth stone down at his foe. There was a brief flash of white light from Alex's warp psynergy before the savage attack hit the floor. The force of the blast sent dirt and green floor tiles flying in every direction. The smoke cleared, no Alex. Just like he wanted. Felix fell to his knees. "It's all up to him now."

All of the battle going on around him had disoriented his psynergetic senses, but Isaac could've picked that warp flash out of a million attacks. "That was it." Isaac thought. "This is my only chance." Isaac invoked one of the Great Venus Clan's ancient meditation techniques. His mind was relaxed, yet intensely focused at the same time. He stretched out with his mind in all directions.

If his eyes had been open, Isaac would've been stunned by the display he was creating. Bright rings of psynergy flowed up from the ground and wreathed his body. Cracks spread out across the floor from his feet, and a warm yellow light shined out of them.

Isaac was stunned by the silence. Other than the flickering of his friends' active psynergies, he could sense nothing. None of the background noise or the gentle swell that all life radiates was to be found. The valley was filled with the afterglow of the formation of the Golden Sun on the outside, but this chamber seemed cut off from all outside sources of psynergy. He felt like he was being crushed by the silence.

Then, there it was. Warp. His psynergetic aura tugged dead ahead. The vibrations in his feet told him exactly how far away the psynergy was.

"There!" He yelled, pointing at a seemingly meaningless spot.

"Ice Horn!" Mia yelled.

The warp surge finally crested, and Alex appeared, healed and triumphant as ever. However this time, he was standing in the middle of a hail of ice spikes. He jumped and weaved to dodge them and smashed a couple with his sword.

Felix looked up and extended a hand in Alex's direction. "Quake Sphere!"

Violent tremors in the ground beneath him threw off Alex's footing and a handful of ice spikes hit him. He thrust forth a wave of psynergy into the hail of ice and shattered all of the deadly missiles.

Felix made use of the opening this gave him. "Stone Spire!"

Yet another barrage of spiked missiles flew at Alex. This time, he warped out before they could hit him.

"He won't stop using warp." Isaac said. "But we can use that against him just as easily."

His friends nodded, they knew what they had to do.

Isaac waited for the return warp. When he felt it, he channeled his link with the Earth into his hands and thrust them upwards. All he could manage to create in the split-second he had was a small mesa. A little section of floor about the size of a floor mat shifted up about a foot. It was all he needed.

Isaac placed his hand on the orb of force in his pocket and readied for the next step. Once more Alex appeared in perfect condition, but this time his feet were embedded in the floor.

"Ground."

"Secrac!"

Isaac finally opened his eyes. He stretched out a hand and said:

"Force!"

Alex was knocked backwards slightly by the impact of the force spell, but that was all that was needed. His knees bent and he was driven down by the power of Ground. His body was thrust downwards, right onto Serac's ice spire.

Alex looked down at the large crystal protruding from his chest. "How… unfortunate…" His head fell backwards.

------

I had it finished once already, but it ended up in this really monotonous stream-of-action style. (My english teacher gave me some pointers on that because he caught me working on it during class while I was supposed to be writing an essay, big trouble... but he was really helpful though!) I broke it up a little bit, so let me know what you think. 


	20. A New Way of Looking at it

Argh! The only thing that I really don't like about is that I have no way of telling you when I've gotten slammed with a huge term paper and can't write for a month. Ah well, here's a little Christmas present for those of you that are still reading.

Chapter 19:

Alex's body lay perfectly still. Their once intimidating foe now broken and defeated. "We've made a great achievement." Isaac thought. "At any other time this would've been a cause for celebration. At the time however, none of us are in any condition to party. Felix has fallen to the floor from exhaustion. Garet is still down. Mia is preoccupied with healing him. I'm too focused on our numerous brushes with death to be happy. And Jenna…"  
"Oh God! Jenna!" He yelled.

Isaac was stunned that he could've forgotten. Not only because of his friendship with Jenna, but because of the simple fact that her icy prison towered over him. As he ran closer, he saw that the great iceberg was even larger than he thought. It splayed across the wall and even stretched up more than eighty feet up to the ceiling where it branched out across the arches of the roof.

Isaac arrived at the base of this mountain of ice and peered inside. The light in the room was filtered through only a foot or so of the translucent blue mass. Its surface was rippled and streaked, shaped by the unbelievable force of the psynergy that had created it. Isaac figured he had to start somewhere. He gave the surface of the ice a quick jab with his sword. The ice crunched and the blade stuck only a few inches into it. Isaac couldn't pull it out. He twisted on the hilt, scattering a handful of ice chunks as he wrenched his weapon free. He looked up at the hole he had made. It was a small flat cone about three inches deep, the ice was white where it had been cracked along the surface. The deep cerulean void continued on through the center.

He swung again with more force. The crash echoed through the empty room and the wall around the glacier shook. He managed to sever a large thin chunk from the surface. The ice looked almost the same as it did before, only a little rougher where it had been broken off.

"Well this ought to take me about Eighty years…" Isaac said. "There's got to be a way to weaken it."

"We could wait for it to melt."  
Isaac turned and saw Garet walking, slowly but deliberately, towards him.  
"We'll die of old age by the time it melts!" Isaac replied.  
"I know a way of speeding that up."  
Garet straightened up and took a fighting stance, struggling against the obvious pain this caused him. He focused for a moment, building his power and thrust his good hand forward, unleashing a powerful Heat Wave.

A jet of flame shot forth from Garet's hand. It spread outwards as it impacted the surface of the ice. Burning hot tongues of flame danced across the ice. The great pyre covered about half of the near side. A sudden rush of water cascaded down the side of the glacier extinguishing the flames. It splashed across the floor, knocking Garet off his feet. Although a large amount of water ran off the ice, it was nothing compared to the tower of ice that still remained.

"Well if we keep at that, then _Kraden_ will die of old age by the time we're done. It's a start." Isaac said.  
Ignoring the insult, Garet said. "I wonder if there's anything Mia could do about this…"

"Nothing that would get her out of there without crushing her." Mia said. She was a some distance away healing Felix, she never looked up from her patient when she spoke. "If it was freestanding maybe, but the ice was formed against the floor and walls. These walls must've been strong to withstand all these hundreds of years being buried. The ice draws strength from them. Every time you hit it, I can hear just how rock solid that ice is."

Isaac looked up towards the top of the ice. Mia was right. The ice was thickest where it met the wall and floor, making it immeasurably stronger.  
"Maybe," Isaac thought. "If the floor gives the ice strength, the floor can take it away."  
Isaac opened his hands downward and extended his psynergy to the floor beneath the ice. He pulled up on it, trying to make the floor shift. The ice rumbled and creaked as its weight was forced upwards. A ridge appeared in the floor, creating a small gap under the ice. Isaac gasped. The weight of all the ice, wall and ceiling was suddenly pressing full against has psynergy. He felt like it would crush him from the inside out. He had to release his hold on the floor.

The ice slumped downwards with a dull thud. But Isaac heard something else as it hit the floor; a crunch. He looked through the ice and saw blurry white streaks going through the ice a few feet in. "It's cracked!" He said. "Maybe this will work after all…"  
He stretched out again with his psynergy. This time, instead of channeling all his strength into it, he paid diligent to the Earth and felt for what it told him about the ice. The cracks didn't extend far, but he found that he could press on the surrounding areas without taking the full weight of the ice. So that was it then, he'd have to concentrate all the power he could muster onto that area before the weight of the ice could shift to compensate. That would make it so that the ice would fight its connection with the structure of the building instead of working with it. Hopefully this would make the ice vulnerable to an attack. "But an attack from where?" Isaac thought. He suddenly became aware of his being watched and snapped out of this psynergetic trance. "Is it your _job_ to stare at me Garet?"  
"Well the ice obviously isn't going anywhere, and I have nothing better to do in the meantime."  
"Well if you want to be helpful," Isaac pointed to a spot on the ice. "hit it there when I say so."  
"Have you lost your mind? That would be like throwing a rock at a glacier!"  
"You never were very good at analogies Garet. That happens to be almost exactly what you're doing."  
Garet looked up at the ice, and then down at his stone fist. "Well, if you think it'll help…" He backed up to get a running start at the ice.

Isaac reached out once more to the stone floor beneath the ice. He lifted up on the ice, trying to tilt outer edge of it towards the wall. He felt the strength of the wall oppose this movement, and increased the force he was putting into the ice. He felt the pressure building as the frozen mountain began to creak and heave. When he felt like he could hold it no longer, he yelled "Garet! Now!"

Garet charged forward and slammed his fist against the ice where Isaac had indicated. The force of the blow shot through the ice. The reverberations echoed until the strain built to the failing point. The ice cracked along the middle. The shock of the energy being released rang through the chamber and rattled the walls. A few of the windows blinked and flickered as cracks were pounded unto their surface by the shockwave. The flock of Jupiter djinn near Navampa's body suddenly flew out the door, knocking Felix back to the floor as Mia tried to help him to his feet. Mia heard a crack as Felix hit the floor heavily. "So much for a simple fracture…" She said. "Boy are those guys going to get it!"

The ice attached to the wall slumped down a foot and crunched as it hit the floor. Isaac was horrified as the roof shifted in concert with the ice. He did everything in his power to stabilize the roof, pumping unimaginable strength into the support columns. The crack shifted, but all the movement suddenly stopped as the ice settled. Isaac let the roof gently settle back into the ice. He broke his contact and fell to his knees. "That was everything I had and that crack was all I could manage." He thought. "And I nearly brought the roof of this place crashing down on our heads!"

Garet was a few paces away watching the flight of the Jupiter djinn.  
"Do you think they know something we don't?"  
Isaac thought for a moment. The Djinn tended to be very intuitive creatures and could often offer valuable insight. No, at this point they were just on edge from the battle and were scared by the noise of the ice. "It's probably nothing." He said.

He looked up at the ice, even with the crack running all the way through it, it looked just as menacing. "Wait, the crack! Perhaps that was all we needed." He said.  
"Garet, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  
"Jenna isn't worth it and we should all go home?"  
"What?"  
"Nothing."  
"This is not the time Garet."  
"Ok, but that was my only idea…"  
"Apparently we're not on the same page."  
"I'm not sure I'm reading the same book as you. Does yours have puppies in it?"  
"I'm never quite sure what's going on inside your mind but it sure must be a more interesting place than out here in the real world."

Isaac saw that he would have to simplify this a little more.  
"What do we do when we need to clear something that has a big crack in it?"  
"You already tried telling me to smash it, remember?"  
"No, we need to use psynergy."  
"Oh, I see. But how will blowing up Jenna help?"  
"NO! You're going to use _Burst_ Garet. You know, the psynergy that breaks cracked stuff?"  
"Oh yeah! I knew that."  
Isaac made a mental note never to drop a hint to Garet ever again.

Garet dug around in his bag for the Burst Broach. It proved a much more difficult task than he had anticipated.  
"Here, hold this open for me." He swung the bag into Isaac's hands. Isaac was stunned and almost knocked over by its weight. "How does he drag this thing around everywhere?" Isaac thought as Garet continued to rummage in the bottom of the bag. A sandwich wrapped in brown paper fell out onto the floor. "You brought even more food?" Isaac asked.  
"Yeah, so?"  
"I told you to pack a lunch, and you've eaten that already."  
"You can never be too prepared."  
"Garet it's like a three hour hike to this place! How many meals do you eat in three hours?"  
Garet considered that carefully for a moment. Isaac spied the edge of a red gem on a chain in the bag.

"Ok, I don't really want to know. Look, there's the Burst Broach."  
Garet dug it out of the bag and had Isaac wrap it around his good hand. Garet raised his arm and began to channel his psynergy into the broach. Glowing Mars psynergy gathered at the edges of the crack in the ice. It gained strength, penetrating into the ice. Steam whistled as it escaped the surface and the superheated glow lit up the ice from deep inside.

The psynergy built to intolerable levels and finally split the ice with at terrific explosion, shattering the freestanding half. A cascade of smashed ice fell to the floor, leaving divots in the stone and pulverizing themselves on impact. The moment the ice appeared settled, Isaac and Garet rushed in. Isaac hacked at the ice and Garet smashed the larger chunks with his stone fist. Up until now they hadn't considered the possibility that bursting the ice could crush Jenna, but now it was the only thing they could think about as they searched desperately for her.

Garet suddenly stopped.  
"What is it?" Isaac asked.  
"Listen." He said.  
The rumbling of his smashing the ice shards died down as Isaac paused his search. He heard a low thud that echoed through the standing half of the ice. Then another, it was the sound of cracks splitting it. There was a crunch as one of the cracks hit the wall and sent a shudder through the whole room.  
"How long is it going to be safe to be in here Isaac?" Garet asked.  
"Not long." Isaac said. He could feel that the structure had been weakened severely on this side. The collapse of the pillar Kraden had toppled earlier made the weight of the roof quite unbalanced on this side. A couple other columns had been pitted and cracked by the battle, two were now encased in the remaining ice. The vibrations resonating through the wall from the crumbling ice weren't helping.

"We don't have long enough to search through all of this by hand." Isaac said as he cast about desperately for another plan.  
Garet gazed up at the ice as it shuddered with another violent crack. "Isaac, how do you do that Zen thing with your psynergy?"  
Isaac couldn't believe Garet would be asking stupid questions at a time like this.  
"Garet! We have more pressing issues at hand!"  
"Just answer me Isaac. How do you do that fancy thing where you use your psynergy to sense things? I'm good at breaking stuff and blowing things up, but my psynergy has never really given me any useable information about my surroundings."

This seemed really important to him. Isaac knew that he didn't have the time to ask where these strange questions were coming from. Then there was the question itself. The "fancy Zen thing" was not an easy thing to do, or teach to others. He doubted if he had the time to explain the nuances of his ancient psynergetic meditation techniques to a scatterbrain like Garet, but he had to try.  
"Close your eyes." He said as he briefly searched his years of experience for simple words that would convey all that he needed to say quickly.  
"First you have to empty your mind of all thoughts."  
"Done."  
"Now try to focus on a mantra; something repetitious, like your breathing. Focus on maintaining an even rhythm in your breathing."  
Garet closed his eyes and focused all his attention onto the task at hand. Gentle, rolling steam issued from his nostrils and a psynergetic field began to stretch outward from his body. Isaac was amazed at how well Garet was taking to this. It occurred to him that it wasn't hard to clear Garet's mind, he didn't think all that much anyway.

"Keep your eyes closed, but think of seeing."  
The expression on Garet's face shifted away from the one of intense concentration he had had before. The new emotion it displayed indicated to Isaac that he had no idea what that meant.  
"Your eyes are only a convenience Garet. There are other ways to see and experience the world. Try to extend your consciousness to your environment and let your element tell you what is around you."

Garet only half understood, but he knew how imperative it was that he get this right. He remembered how he could always tell how there was a fire around by the feeling he got when he was near one. He had once prevented a house fire because he had felt the energy of the flame eating away at the house's roof before and flame or smoke had become visible. Garet stained his consciousness, searching for the flame that gives life to all things.  
He saw a blue streak at the edge of his field of vision. The shock of this sudden change made him recoil form the contact with his element, but Isaac reassured him.  
"Garet, you're doing great. That's just the elemental energies around you trying to communicate with you. Don't pull away."

Garet reached out again with his psynergy. This time ready for anything that might come his way. The blue streak arced across his view again. This time, he looked directly at it, trying to figure out what it meant. The streak stopped directly in front of him. It wavered slightly, and spider webbed out into a complex network of blue-black haze. Garet tried to examine the haze closer, but a bright orange light to his side blinded him temporarily. He turned his read to try to see where the light was coming from, but turning his head had no effect of his field of view. He turned his head forward again, and instead stretched out towards the light with is mind. The bright spot centered in his field of view. It formed the outline of a person standing near him.  
"Isaac?"  
The glowing figure turned.  
"Yes?"  
"Stop making all that light, you're distracting me!"  
"Garet, I'm not making any light. And your eyes are closed!"  
"What's going on Isaac?"  
The first thing that came to Isaac's mind was the fact that he had no idea. He had never encountered anything like this in all the years he'd studied alchemy. Sure when he used his psynergy like this he could sense things that couldn't be seen, but he could never see with his eyes closed!  
"Garet, describe what you saw."  
"Well, everything was really dark. Darker than anything I've ever seen. There were some blue streaks crossing in front of me, then I noticed you all lit up standing next to me."  
"Did you feel anything?"  
"Nothing I don't normally feel when I use my psynergy."

Then the revelation hit Isaac. That was the difference. Isaac has never really _seen_ anything through this method. The information he got was from what he _felt_. It all clicked when he remembered Felix once talking about the different ways adepts interact with their elements in one of his lectures at the Academy.

"Each element has its own component sense. Touch for Venus, hearing for Mercury, consciousness for Jupiter, and sight for Mars. The Earth conducts vibrations that can be felt and interpreted by the adept. Moving water produces an endless variety of different sounds that indicate its nature. Air can connect directly to the spirit. (That's part of why wind adepts master mind read so easily.) And fire produces light that makes the different currents of flame east to spot. By mastering your element's component sense, you can obtain incredibly precise control over your element."

Now it made sense. Garet had seen all these things because sight was Mars' component sense! "Why would everything be black and blue though…" He thought. He looked around him trying to think. The answer had been right in front of him the whole time.  
"The ice!" He said.  
"What about it?"  
"That's why everything is black. The ice doesn't radiate any heat energy, but I do!"  
"And so does Jenna!"  
Isaac would've jumped for joy at unlocking this new secret were it not for his friend still in danger.  
"Can you move a little?" Garet asked. "You're blinding me."

Isaac walked away and stepped behind a chunk of ice.  
The bright light vanished. Everything was dark again. Garet stretched out his psynergy even further. He saw a small spot of light some distance away. It was the outline of a person sitting on the ground. Garet somehow knew that it was Felix. Mia was standing next to him, but her outline was obscured by a sparking blue haze. The shining halo enveloped Felix's arm, which vanished from view. "She must be casting ply on it to heal him." Garet thought. "The Mercury psynergy is blocking my view." Garet continued to look around. The contours of the room were occasionally splattered with orange from where he and Jenna had used their fire psynergies.  
"This is so _cool_ Isaac!" Garet said.  
"Can we focus here?!" Isaac yelled back, eyeing the crumbling sheet of ice that towered above them.  
"Oh, right."  
Garet strained his new senses looking for Jenna amongst the blackness of the ice. He saw a faint glow in the distance, obscured heavily by the cold blackness.  
"That way." He said, pointing through the mound of ice shards. "About twenty yards in."

An orange blur walked in front of him and started smashing through the ice. Even past Isaac's glare, Garet could see that the glow in the distance was fading. He knew that it would still take too long to break the ice. He had to melt it. He knew that blasting fire at it didn't work too well and wasted too much energy. He remembered how Kraden once told him that he didn't have to use high heat to melt ice. Ice always melted at the same point no matter what the other conditions. Making heat required a lot less power than throwing fire. Isaac had busted his way about ten feet into the ice. He was panting heavily and looked like he wouldn't make it much further. The path he had created would be perfect for channeling heat to the mounds of ice that stood before him.  
"Issac, get out of the way."  
Isaac wasn't used to Garet giving orders, but this clearly wasn't working. Isaac stepped back and waited for whatever it was Garet was planning.

"Just heat, no flame." Garet thought. He began focusing his psynergy. His hands glowed red in the sight of his altered vision. He felt the sudden spike in temperature that accompanied a flame bursting to life. He resisted this, as it was not what he wanted. Then he remembered what Isaac said about repetition. He began to chant his new mantra. "Just heat, no flame. Just heat, no flame…" The psynergy drained from his hands and he thought that he was doing something wrong, but then he felt it welling up within his chest. He breathed deeply again and tried to resume the chant, but when he opened his mouth no words came out. He tried to speak a little louder, and a rush of hot air escaped him. He watched as the floor in front of him was lit up with a bright orange glow, casting aside the icy darkness that had been there just a moment ago. Garet breathed in sharply from astonishment. Isaac was equally surprised.  
"How did you do that?" He asked.  
"I don't know."  
"Can you do it again?"  
"I… don't know."  
"You have to try Garet."  
Garet looked once again at the fading glimmer in the distance.  
"I don't know what I'm doing… But that's never stopped me before!"  
Isaac smiled. Garet never was one to lose face when the chips were down.

Garet focused with all he had, keeping his psynergy under tight control. This time he exhaled with no holding back. Isaac's hair was ruffled by the oncoming air even through he was several feet behind Garet. The ice shuddered at the rush of hot air and receded with inconceivable speed. Garet saw the glow spread to everything he could see, before it was doused by a cascade of water from the melting ice.

Isaac wanted to run forward but only Garet knew where to look. Garet ran out into the pile of shards, which was now little more than a large puddle with ice cubes floating in it. Garet ran towards the spark. His heavy boots sloshed through the slurry. He came upon one remaining large chunk if ice, it obscured the light. He smashed it open and pulled out Jenna's body. She was stone cold. Garet pulled her stiff legs from the ice and held her in his arms.

The image of her body through Garet's eyes was black, only dimly outlined against the blue of the wet floor. Had the circumstances been different, Garet would've stopped to be awed by what he saw. He could see a faint glow coming from her heart and spreading only a short distance through her veins before fading into that all-encompassing blackness. He was seeing inside her body with his eyes closed! But that didn't matter now. All that mattered was that he could see Jenna's heart.

And it wasn't beating.

--------

Oh. friggin. snap:0

Well I finished my term paper just in time to get slammed with my next huge paper. I hate English 101... Anyway, I should be able to get some writing done on both over Christmas break. Hoping to see you soon!


	21. Fire and Ice

It appears that I've lost my readers... All six of them. :...(

Oh, well. I'm still vain enough to keep updating anyway.

That's what I get for putting schoolwork first I suppose. I'm sure I'll kick myself for it in the future. 

Well here it is. Enjoy! ... if you do indeed exist.

Chapter 20:

Isaac ran over and looked down at Jenna.

"She… She can't be!"

"Yes, she can…"

A tear worked its way out of Garet's tightly closed eyelid. It sizzled and steamed away almost instantly upon hitting Jenna's forehead. Garet saw a bright glow form on that spot. He had forgotten all of the heat he had pent up inside him. "Wait, that's it!" If he had all that heat inside him, maybe he could move it to where it was really needed. Garet placed his mouth on Jenna's and exhaled gently. He saw the glowing heat soak into her blackened chest. It started to fade almost immediately. Garet knew that this wouldn't work fast enough. He had to think of a faster way to warm Jenna up. He remembered a snippet from one of Felix's many boring lectures about how heat travels. It had three different ways of traveling, what were they again? Conducive… Protomechanical… Garet was powerless to remember the fancy names that Felix used for them, but that didn't matter. The important thing was that heat could spread straight from its source like light, be carried by hot air, or be transferred by touch. Spreading out in straight paths was what the heat from a fire does, but he didn't want to set Jenna on fire. Well deep down maybe he did, but that would have to wait for some other time. Traveling by air was too slow, that leaves… "By touch!" Garet said. Isaac seemed not to hear him.

Garet tried to place his hand on Jenna's chest, forgetting about his petrified right arm. His fist hit her hard in the chest. Garet had never felt so stupid in his life, and he had felt _pretty _stupid sometimes, but then, he was vindicated. Jenna coughed.

Garet's face lit up at hearing this, but Jenna gave no further signs of life. Maybe this meant he was on the right track though… He placed his good hand over Jenna's heart and channeled all the heat he could through it. Jenna's chest jerked as the heat flowed into it.

Garet felt the wave of steam hit his face and ruffle his hair. He saw a heartbeat. It gradually picked up speed as the heat spread through her body. Garet gasped, he had completely spent his psynergy. He blinked as his normal vision returned to him. Jenna's head rolled slightly and she groaned as she started to breathe again.

"Isaac she-"

Isaac's mind was clearly elsewhere. He looked intensely worried, so much so that it appeared he had failed to notice Jenna's reawakening. He tensed suddenly.

"Isaac what-"

"Run."

What do you mean ru-"

"RUN!"

Isaac took off. Garet saw why. Their efforts to free Jenna had aggravated the weak points of the ice on the wall. Water was streaming off the sides of the ice out onto the floor. The stress and cracks in the ice had led to cracks in the iced-over pillars. Garet hefted Jenna over his shoulder and ran after Isaac. A pillar next to the ice exploded. Garet ducked down and tried to shield Jenna. There was no need, Isaac held up his hands and the fragments of the shattered pillar all stopped in mid-air and fell harmlessly to the ground.

"Garet! Get moving!" Isaac yelled. "Mia! Get Felix out of here, this place is going to collapse!"

That was easier said than done. They were only about twenty yards from the door, but Felix couldn't walk and there was no way Mia could drag or carry him that far.

"We have to go now Felix!"

"I can't move Mia!"

"You have to!"

"Go on without me."

"I would never!"

"I can die or we both can die, make your choice."

Mia knew that she wasn't strong enough physically to move him. "My psynergy is strong," She thought. "but I can't move objects with it. Only water." Mia stamped her foot in the puddle they were standing in. The water on the floor froze in mid-splash. She remembered Alex and his floating ice platform. "That's it!" She said. She dipped her hand into the pool of water.

She tensed her fingers and charged the water beneath them. It froze quickly around her hand. She pulled upward with her grip and her psynergy. The ice floated into the air, taking Mia and Felix with it. Mia steered the floating platform towards the door and flew through it as fast as she could. They crashed outside, but they had made it.

Felix seemed dazed, but he wasn't in any real danger, so Mia looked into the door at the rest of her friends still inside.

Garet was severely hampered by Jenna's weight, and Isaac had to stop constantly to prevent them from being crushed by the room's crumbling walls. A window shattered, and Isaac was forced to divert the soil that poured through it. She didn't know as much about architecture as Isaac, but she could tell that they weren't going to make it out in time.

Mia saw that the floor they were running across was still pooled with water from the part of the ice Garet had melted. "They're in my element." She thought. "There's got to be something I can do." She saw Garet lumbering along desperately. Garet had always been a bit sluggish on his feet. For some reason she remembered how everyone use to say that 'water ran faster than Garet.' "This is no time to dwell upon old memories!" Mia thought "Then again…" She smiled, she knew what she had to do.

She reached out to the water with her psynergy, pulling against it hard to form it into a giant wave. "Hold your breath!" She yelled. This was an unusual instruction, but Isaac and Garet were both willing to try anything that would get them out of there alive, so they complied. The great wave hit them from behind and the rush of water shoved them out the door with incredible speed; enough speed to get them out the door before the ceiling of the great Chamber of Necessity came crashing down. The earth above the chamber slid down to fill the void left by the room. Soon, the ground had settled, and the desolate silence of the basin returned.

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Well I'm off. Good night. Except if you're not there. Then I wish you: Good next expanse of time within interminable darkness.


	22. His Well Kept Secret

Seeing as a few of you do indeed exsist, and are not just fiments of my imagination, next chapter!

Chapter 21:

Garet and Isaac floated by just before the water was quickly soaked up by the parched earth. Garet flicked the sodden hair out of his eyes and panted.

"That. Was. Awesome!"

Mia ignored the 'typical Garet' remark as she lifted Jenna from his shoulder. She had lost consciousness, presumably from the tidal wave. Garet and Isaac dragged themselves to their feet as Mia began checking Jenna for injuries.

"She looks pretty good considering what she's been through." Mia said. "There's a nasty bruise just inside her left shoulder. I don't remember her breaking her collarbone, do you?"

Garet shifted uneasily.

"Must've been from the ice." He mumbled.

"Well I suppose it doesn't matter how she got it."

Mia began channeling her power to draw the bone fragments together.

"It appears that Weyard owes you another favor young ones."

The group turned to see Kraden gingerly clambering over the rocks towards them.

"Kraden!" Isaac said. "How did you get out?"

Kraden reached the group and leaned closer to Isaac.

"I may not know _how _to run like I used to, but I sure still know _when _to!"

The group laughed weakly. Soon enough, attention refocused on Jenna.

"Will she be able to walk when she wakes?" Isaac asked.

"I think so." Mia said. "She's a bit traumatized by being frozen, but she'll walk all right. Why do you ask?"

"Well we have to get home somehow!"

"Isaac, I want to leave and get away from this place just as much as you do, but I think we all need a little rest before we can go anywhere."

"What do you guys think?"

Kraden was first to speak. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to stay to see what I can find out from this area. We did just create some new ruins to study you know." Kraden gave that look of subdued childish giddiness that he got whenever he discovered something new. "However, I am quite spent from this ordeal, and the ruins aren't going anywhere, they'll be there some other day. As soon as I rest my legs a bit, I'll be quite ready to go home."

Felix was on the ground a little ways off. He was leaning up against a boulder and smashing the ice on his cloak with a rock.

"I don't think any of us are in any condition to travel. And if _you_ are, you'll have to drag those that aren't."

"What do you think Garet?"

"I'm hungry."

"… So it's settled. We'll hang out here for awhile before we begin the trek for home."

And so the exhausted adepts sat together on the dry rocks of the Basin and talked for awhile, sharing their experiences of their harrowing battle and having a hearty, if somewhat soggy, meal; courtesy of Garet's backpack.

As the adepts sat and talked, the blazing heat of the golden sun quickly dried their clothes, but it also made their little break noticeably less restful. Isaac absently struggled to keep tangled bangs out of his eyes. He could only imagine how bad his hair looked now. His hair was impossible to control already, now there was the sweat, mud, and blood from hours of heated combat, and top that off with getting soaking wet at the end. He could tell from the feel of the skin on his head that his hair was sticking up in all different directions, and it sprung back up whenever he tired to mat the chaotic mess back down.

With his bangs at least temporarily subdued, Isaac's gaze fell on Garet. Isaac could only stare at what he saw. Garet's hair, sopping wet and draped down almost to his shoulders only moments ago, was standing perfectly on end, as if nothing had happened. Isaac had missed the magic Garet used while he was fighting with his own tangle of hair. Isaac flinched as another gnarled tuft caught under his eyelid. Isaac put his hands on the sides of his head, feeling the fluffy, light blonde mounds rustle and peek their way through his fingers. There was only one thing to do. He had to stop over dramatizing this, shelve his pride, and beg Garet for help.

He took a deep breath and approached Garet.

"Garet, your chef's hat is an inspiration. And a testament to both your excellent fashion sense and legendary culinary prowess."

Garet smiled triumphantly, but said nothing.

"Now tell me how you get your hair to do that!"

"Very well," Garet said in a very serious tone. "I shall reveal to you the secret of the spikes in my hair, but you must trust me, and not question my instructions."

"Only if you stop acting like this is some kind of holy grail."

Garet thought for a moment.

"Okie dokie! Mia! I need some water."

Jenna had regained consciousness, she told Mia that it was all right and that she could go see what Garet was doing. Mia dutifully extended her Crystal Rod and used it to extract some clear, sparkling water that had flown down a crack in the barren floor of the basin. It hovered in the air in front of her as she walked over to Garet.

"Throw it on his head." Garet said.

"Did Isaac agree to this?"

"Apparently I did, do what he says Mia."

Mia gave them a quizzical look, and then flicked her wrist, tossing the water onto Isaac's head. The water soaked Isaac's hair, but ran right through all of the messier parts.

"How is this supposed to help?" Isaac asked.

"All in good time Isaac." Garet said, shaking the glove off his left hand.

Garet placed his hand on Isaac's head and channeled a small psynergy through it. Isaac could feel the heat soaking into his head, it was quite relaxing, but he was still apprehensive. Garet was never one for exercising moderation when using his psynergy. Isaac stood ready in case his head burst into flames, which seemed the most likely worst case scenario to him. Everyone else watching didn't help. Perhaps simply for lack of anything else interesting happening, the gaze of all those assembled eventually fell on the pair of them. Even Jenna managed to drag herself over to see what was going on as Garet became increasingly obnoxious.

Isaac tensed as he heard a sizzling sound, but remembered that it was just the water in his hair. As the steam rose from Isaac's hair, Garet used the heat to straighten the knotted tufts. He adopted the airy, snob-like, nasal accent of an expensive hairdresser as he asked: "O-ah kay! What vood yew like eh? I could vill eet out in the back here a leettle bit, giv eet some moore volyoome and like 'bounce' yew kno?"

Isaac couldn't believe what he had gotten himself into. "Garet, seriously…" He stammered.

"Meybee yew ah-like de Tolbi-soldier wolf-tail eh? Eet luke _wery_ dassheing on yew. Friend Veelix kno all about de ponytail look yoo-ah ask heem."

Isaac could see that resisting this charade of Garet's would get him nowhere. "What do you think Felix?" He asked.

A playful smile arced across Felix's face as he sized up Isaac for a moment. "I don't think he can pull it off Garet."

Garet looked stunned. "Non? A rejection by ze mastair?! Wery vell zhen… A different look for yew eh? I'm zinking a close-cropped Madran look no?"

Isaac didn't like the idea of Garet actually _cutting _his hair. Both due to the fact that he couldn't be taking this _less _seriously, and because he didn't have any shears, so he would probably use someone's weapon. "Just keep it under control and get it to lie flat on my head."

"Ahhh… Such zimple tastes, like ze monks of olde… I've got it! A nice Hesperian _coif_ for you!"

"Do what you have to Garet."

"Ahhh! Good. I get to verk. Holde still!"

Garet's hands moved with a speed and skill Isaac would never have thought could come from the big oaf. Steam crackled now and again, relaxing the tangles and forcing his hair into cooperation. After gently smoothing Isaac's new due, Garet stepped back to admire his work.

"Voila! Itz finished!"

There were gasps, some real, some fake, from the now enraptured crowd.

"Yew want look no?" Garet said offering Isaac a small hand mirror.

Too worried about his hair to wonder where Garet got the mirror form, Isaac observed his reflection. He face what gaze back at him looked incredibly… average. It was a straight, flat, nothing-special haircut. Just what he had asked for. Sure the ends were a bit uneven and he looked _way_ too much like Ivan to be comfortable, but it could be worse, and it was definitely a lot better than before.

Isaac turned to the small crowd that had gathered.

"Well you're all on your feet again, does that mean you're ready to go?"

A gentle nod of agreement passed through the group. Isaac stood and said:

"Well then we have nothing left to wait for. Let's get going!"

A brief moment of collecting their things and the small troupe was off once again.

-------

It's been awhile since I've been able to make a chapter out of nothing. All that action was getting kind of exhausing. Let me know what you think!


	23. Journey Home

Ok, midterms (And damage-control whereupon finishing midterms) are finally over and I can get back to writing. And it's nice to see that my fears about losing all my readers are unfounded. Thanks guys!

Chapter 22:

Few words were exchanged as the party trudged on through the basin. The impact of what they had just seen and done still weighed heavily on their minds. Isaac led as usual, but Jenna occasionally tapped him on the shoulder to redirect him, she still knew the Basin best.

As dull as walking down the walls of the basin was, Isaac would've killed for a trip that easy as he clambered over the mammoth slabs of stone trying to find a path up the slope.

"Maybe I am getting too old for this." Kraden said as he pulled himself up after stumbling on a patch of loose gravel.

No one spoke. Even Garet failed to make his usual stupid joke. This silence pervaded the journey. The adepts were exhausted. Their tired, battered muscles were stiffening, so they had to focus all of their attention on their movement to continue to press on.

After an interminable march across the barren landscape, Isaac looked up and saw the shear, near vertical rock face that marked the edge of the basin. "I must've led us wrong somewhere…" a strangely detached Jenna said. Isaac and Felix exchanged a knowing glance. "Don't worry," Isaac said "I know a shortcut."

The pair reached out their hands and the earth on the other side of the rock face crumbled. The mammoth slab fell away like a drawbridge. Normally at least one of their number would've stopped to admire such a fine piece of psynergetic ingenuity, but the adepts had all their attention diverted to the journey ahead, and so, the pressed on in silence.

The gentler slope of the path that led through what were once the foothills of Mount Aleph was a much easier walk. The Adepts began to stretch and straighten their backs periodically as the easier terrain relaxed their sore muscles. A few more long moments of walking along the path and Vale appeared in the distance. As each of them noticed the sight of their home town they, in turn, all stopped to gaze upon it. Normally the sight of their destination would motivate the party to continue on faster than before. Yet they all looked on, oblivious to the time that had passed. Their tired eyes had been dulled so long by the intense light of the Golden Sun, they had almost forgotten how beautiful their town looked.

In this brief period of reflection they realized that they were being weighed down not only by their heavy limbs, but by the constant weight of the battle that they had just experienced on their minds. Each in their own way, they allowed all of that mental clutter to drain out into the scenery before them. The Golden Sun had long since been hidden by the rim of the basin, and the mundane sun in the sky had dipped low in the horizon. Shadows rose in the valley as the sun was blocked out by the mountains, and the only light was that scattered by the clouds. The effect was dazzling.

Isaac would've been just as content to look on with the others, but he noticed lights flickering on in town. Isaac had looked over towards the sunset before, but had neglected to make the connection to what it meant for their journey.

"It's getting dark." He said. "We should get moving."

The eyes of his friends turned towards Isaac for a moment, and then to the path ahead. By unspoken consensus, the moved forward once more.

Kraden walked off towards his home at a fork in the pathway, after assuring the Adepts repeatedly that he didn't need any help to get there. When the dark steel of the Fortress rose above them, the party stopped for a moment. A flock of Jupiter Djinn was nestled on the ground in front of the heavy door. They were huddled close and had their wings wrapped tightly around them as they slept. They looked so cute and peaceful, everyone decided not to wake them up. However most of them were roused by the creaking of the heavily reinforced door.

The Jupiter Djinn groggily fluttered up to their perches in the aviary. A crackle of psynergy filled the room as the adepts unleashed all their djinn and released them from their bodies. Some leapt out energetically, but it was clear that most shared their exhaustion. The light from their appearance quickly died down. Mia said her goodbyes as the rest of the party left for town.

It was completely dark by the time they arrived in town. They sorely missed the strength that the djinn had given them as they dragged themselves home. Their arrival had not gone unnoticed however. Many Valeans were watching for their arrival. They had been gone since morning, and the noises and psynergetic waves coming from the basin had attracted a lot of attention. Several people frequented the town hall to see if there was any news. The Mayor had snuck out the back way to check on his son. He opened the door of Garet's home and held his lamp inside. Garet was fast asleep. His father smiled. In true Garet style, his son had walked straight from the door to his bed, dropping his various possessions along the way. His bag was on the table, his helm and other armor had been strewn across the floor. His feet hung over the foot of the bed, he was still wearing his Dragon Boots.

"No luck here either I see."

The Mayor turned to see Kyle standing behind him. His mane of blonde hair played chaotic tricks with the flickering lamplight, but his deep blue eyes still shone brightly under it.

"No, he's wiped out, and if I know Garet, it'll take a dozen mules to drag him out of that bed before sunrise."

Kyle looked in at the slumbering Garet as he continued.

"Isaac is the same. He flopped into his bed just as soon as he got home. He looked awfully uncomfortable sleeping on top of his scabbard, Dora managed to get it off without waking him. I went by the smith shop on the way here. Felix was sleeping on the couch and I assume Jenna was in her room."

"They're sleeping in the same building?" The incredulous Mayor scoffed. "They must really be beat for them to manage that kind of a truce."

"What do you think we should do?" Kyle asked. "People are beginning to worry…"

"I know that. Who do you think everyone brings their worries to?"

"I can tell that you're wondering about it too, shouldn't we ask one of them?"

He knew that Kyle had a point, but he glanced again at has sleeping son inside.

"If there was anything that we urgently needed to know they would've told someone. Let them sleep. I'll call a town meeting tomorrow and they can fill everyone in on all the details then."

"I'm sure they've got quite a tale to tell."

"They've certainly led a storied life, and I'll be first in line to hear of this new adventure. But that is a matter for another day. Good night, Kyle."

"Good night."

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Ok, not a lot of exciting or interesting stuff in that one, but I could've just said "They walked home." This is going to get tough because many Valeans, namely the mayor and Jenna's parents, don't have names. I'll think of something. Comment and such as usual.


	24. Daybreak

Ok, yet another chapter! Not a whole lot of events of consequence here either, but you need a respite from action every now and then.

Chapter 23:

The adepts slumbered peacefully as the rest of the town waited anxiously for the sun to rise. It was an hour or so before that was to happen, and yet a large number of the townsfolk had gathered in the Town Hall in hopes of finding out the details sooner. People walked about, exchanging what little information they knew. Urgency started to build as first light began to show. The Mayor had dictated that the adepts not be woken before sunrise, and now the crowd's restlessness had drawn the exact point of sunrise into question. Numerous debates arose as to where exactly to draw the line.

"Is it time yet mayor?" a member of the crowd asked.

"Do you see the sun?" He said, gesturing towards the East window.

The sky glowed orange, but no direct sunlight could be seen over the crest of the valley's edge upon even the closest inspection. The man hung his head and returned to the crowd. The Mayor also gazed out the window for a moment. He knew that he wouldn't be able to restrain them for much longer. Eventually their curiosity would get the better of them and the Adepts would be in for a rude awakening. There were murmurs floating around the room of plans to force the adepts out of bed to get some answers. He smiled though, he knew that their threats were empty and that the adepts' slumber had been well defended. Dora was a one-woman barricade that kept anyone and anything away from Isaac. Mia was quite safe, though the Fortress was nowhere near as difficult to break into as it was to break out of, no one dared go anywhere near it anymore. He chuckled as he thought of his son. He'd like to see them _try_ to wake Garet. As a veteran of trying to drag the great lout out of bed every morning, he knew that they would never be able to manage it. He had noted that Jenna had put up the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door of the forge. Most everyone knew that she was sleeping, but several had learned the hard way that the sign was to be respected at all times. "They will wake in their own time." He thought. "Waiting never killed anyone."

Felix was awakened by the clang of a cooking pan from somewhere far off. It wasn't loud in the slightest, but he has always been a light sleeper. He rolled over and looked outside to see light sparkling off the glass shards in the smashed windows of Garet's kitchen.

"Garet first to rise?" He thought. "This I must see."

He walked across the charred floor near the smashed forge towards Jenna's bedroom. He knocked on the door. No answer, but he heard her roll over in her bed.

"Jenna?" He said. "It's almost morning."

"Hhrmmmf…"

Felix could see that this would not be easy. He didn't want to just barge in on her. She had always been very possessive of her room when she was young, so he knew that going in there would probably lead to his pants being set on fire. He would have to get _creative_ if he was going to rouse her. He was spoiling for a little action, and an idea struck him. He walked over to the spot where he had dropped his pack, and began to search for it. He was hit by the sunlight from a nearby window, it was only the first dawn, but it was still enough to disorient him for a moment. He saw his pack over in the corner found the Tremor Bit in a side pocket.

He walked over to the door and channeled his psynergy into the item. A great rumbling came from the other side of the door, followed by the dull thud of Jenna hitting the floor. Felix's smile was wiped off his face as another loud rumble emanated from the door. He had to jump aside as it was blasted off its hinges and thrown across the room. He pulled himself up off the floor and looked at the smoldering door, then at his sister. Her clothes were horribly crumpled, so much so that the wrinkles could be seen in her shadow. Her purple hair was tangled and tossed in a thousand directions, almost completely covering her face.

"You never were a morning person were you?"

"Nnnrg… five seconds to explain why I shouldn't barbeque you."

"Ummm… I would taste horrible?"

"Indeed."

Felix flexed his arm and pointed to his biceps.

"No seriously, you'd need Cleave's help to get through all that stringy muscle."

"Hmph, slam my door for me."

Felix concentrated for a moment, reached out to the wood in the door, it glowed gently. He pulled it off the floor and tossed it back into the doorframe. He heard a sizzling as Jenna repaired the hinges. He walked outside to the well and drew up a bucket of cool water. He drank some and splashed a little on his face before returning to the forge.

Jenna stepped out of her room. He clothes were perfectly straightened and her hair was back in a neat bun.

"That's why you wanted your door back, you didn't want anyone to know how you _do _that."

"Whatever. Shall we go?"

"Go where?"

"Wherever you shook me out of bed to go."

Felix cringed at the fact that she knew him that well, but said nothing and walked out the door towards Garet's.

Felix pushed on the door and he found it unlocked, so he stepped inside. The restaurant was empty save for Isaac sitting at a table in the middle of the room. He looked deep in thought, or totally zoned out, it was always hard to tell with Isaac.

"What are you doing up Isaac?" Felix asked.

"I haven't the slightest idea. But I can't think of anywhere else that I want to be."

Felix and Jenna looked at each other, they both realized that this was pretty much their reason for being here as well. So they both sat down with Isaac and watched the sunrise.

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Also a little bland, but that's mostly because half of it was written while I was snowed in at my house, and the other half was written after I almost got frostbite from spending two hours plowing our driveway. But don't worry I'll probably be in a better mood next chapter.


	25. At Garet's, Again

AAAAAnd after yet another in a series of delays of increasingly rediculous length... Chapter 24!

Chapter 24:

The sun had completely crested the mountains when Mia arrived. She stepped into the door in her usual, graceful fashion and said:

"Good morning everyone!"

They all quietly acknowledged Mia.

"I sensed that you all were in here. Is there anything I need to know about?"

"No, we're all just sort of… here!" Jenna said.

"And we could ask you the same question." Felix said.

"How did you manage to get away from the Fortress anyway?" Jenna asked.

Mia smiled.

"I don't think it will be a problem." She said. "The Djinn are all too tired to get into any mischief. I can't remember the last time I had such a restful night's sleep… So, what now?"

"I suppose you join us in… whatever it is that we're doing here." Isaac said.

"Sounds wonderful."

They spent a long, relaxing moment together. Garet continued working in the kitchen. The clang of his stone fist banging against various cookware was quite audible. He gave no indication that he was aware of his friends only a few yards away from him.

"What do you think he's doing in there?" Mia asked.

"Some things are best left a mystery." Isaac said.

"Besides," chimed in Felix "whatever he's doing in there is probably a proprietary secret."

The kitchen door swinging open ended their conversation. Garet strode out with a tray of five platters, all piled high food. His face was completely expressionless, as if he were sleepwalking or hadn't woken up at all yet. He set one before each of his friends before sitting down with his own and digging in, a bit clumsily, since he was using his left hand.

Isaac looked down at the plate in front of him. This breakfast was a repast truly fit for a king. Sitting before him was a gargantuan steaming platter with French toast, sausage, and bacon splayed out over it, nearly buried by the mound of hash-browns next to them. He had forgotten how hungry he was. He looked around the table and saw similar looks of stunned silence and ravenous hunger all around. He had never seen Mia so close to drooling. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but Garet rapped on the table with his stone fist, rattling the dishes terribly.

"Don't talk. Just eat already!"

They needed no further prompting. They all dug in and savored their delicious breakfast.

The adepts ate happily for about half an hour. When the sun was full over the horizon, and the adepts were cleaning the last scraps from their plate, they heard murmurs outside. A stressed whisper could be heard through the door.

"I'm telling you I heard someone in there!"

A gruff, but calm and more measured voice answered.

"That's ridiculous. Garet's would never be open this early."

"We've looked everywhere else! And they wouldn't have left town at a time like this."

"Fine, we'll check, but we aren't just going to bust in there."

There was a loud knock at the door.

"We're closed!" Garet yelled.

The second voice was heard again.

"Okay, _now _we can barge in there."

There was a loud crunch and the door swung open hard.

"It was _unlocked_ Varik."

They recognized the voice of the second whisperer, still standing outside, as Steven, the town carpenter. That would leave the man shuffling to his feet after breaking open the door to be Varik, a troubadour from Vault that had settled here recently. These were probably the only two men in Vale brave enough (and in part, crazy enough in Varik's case) to take on all the dangers needed to wake the adepts.

Varik mumbled something as he stood up.

"What did he say?" Isaac asked.

"Didn't you hear him? He very clearly said 'smrflgug'" Steven said. "Come on! Speak up Varik, you made your livelihood off your voice, now's the time to use it."

As Varik looked at the adepts around the table, his expression betrayed that he had come to regret choosing to search for the adepts. He spoke with much more courage than it appeared he actually had.

"Come with us. The people want answers."

Isaac almost laughed at the threatening words coming from such a meek man. Varik tended to be loud and flamboyant, but only when performing (or drinking heavily) at the tavern. When he stood toe-to-toe with someone who had actual combat experience, he didn't have a leg to stand on.

Steven, who had a much better physical build for tossing around threats, stepped through the door.

"There's no need to give orders or threaten them Varik." He smiled at the thought. "I think that we could just ask them _nicely_."

Garet looked almost disappointed that Steven hadn't elected to throw his weight around a little.

"If he had put his muscle behind it," Isaac thought. "We probably would've gone with him." He had seen Steven carry around blocks of cord-stock, basically ten-foot lengths of tree trunks that had been squared off, with his bare hands.

Varik cursed himself for letting the urgency of the situation get to him. He knew that the adepts were reasonable people. He should've thought of this first. He looked up and spoke with the smooth easy tone that had won him renown in so many cities.

"Now that you've finished breakfast, would you come down to the Town Hall and tell us what happened while you were out? Everyone is very worried."

Though Isaac didn't like that they had been tracked down so that the details could be demanded of them, Varik was right, there was a lot that the townspeople should know. He could sense that his friends felt the same way.

"Fine." He said. Yet his experiences with repeatedly telling the tales of his previous legendary journey to everyone he met had taught Isaac to add a condition to his agreement. "We'll come and tell our story, once and _only_ once, to everyone."

"Excellent!" Varik replied.

"That's all we ask." Said Steven, stepping aside from the door.

As the group got up from the table, Garet said:

"Wait! Who's going to do the dishes?"

"You are." Felix replied. "But it can wait until we get back."

Garet reluctantly got up and headed for the door with the others.

------

This is typically the point where I say stuff. Meh... I'm just not feeling it today. Respond etc.


	26. Weekend in Review

Chapter 25:

Little was said during the walk across town. Steven wasn't much for small talk, and Varik always became briefly reclusive after doing something stupid. The adepts were glad for the quiet; for they were sure to be assailed with questions once they entered the hall.

It wasn't long before the great double-doors of the Town Hall stood before them. Never much for ceremony, Seven walked up and pulled them both open without a word. The crowd inside all glanced toward the open door. A quick look soon turned into a wide-eyed stare as all the adepts stepped through the door. Most of them had expected Steven and Varik to return with one or two of them, the whole group stepping through the door sent a stunned and excited murmur through the crowd.

Similarly, the adepts were surprised at the crowd. The long, timber walls almost seemed to stretch with the volume of the people inside. Nearly everyone in town was there. It appeared that just about everyone somehow knew that this was a big deal. Garet hid his right arm from the crowd; he didn't want to answer a lot of questions about it just yet. He'd wait until it came up in the story.

The crowd shuffled around awkwardly to give the adepts a wide path to get to the stage at the back of the hall. Steven and Varik took places in the front of the crowd so that they could listen in as well. The crowd redispersed as various people jockeyed for better places to see the stage. The mayor stepped aside and gestured with open hands towards the podium. Isaac took the stand as the others assembled on the stage and stood silently behind him.

"You and I both know why all of you are here." Isaac said. "So before I am barraged with questions, I'm going to tell you all exactly what happened as thoroughly as I can." The chatter had all quieted down, and the curious crowd listened with rapt attention. "It all started with the earthquake yesterday morning…"

And so, Isaac began to recite the previous day's events to the enraptured crowd. He always did have a talent for storytelling, not that his tale lacked interest. Even the adepts had something to learn, as they had occasionally been left out of the loop. Isaac's perspective offered them a lot of insight into yesterday's events. Even though he skimmed out unimportant details of the meeting at Garet's, (though he took special care to mention that the explosion had been unrelated.) he fluently expounded in areas where he knew a lot of questions would be asked; things like Alchemy, the fate of Kraden, and eventually, Alex.

The rest of the party began to step up and offer details and insight as soon as Isaac got to the part about the battle. Since one adept or the other was usually unconscious or locked in close combat at the time of certain key events. Poor Felix had to just stand and listen for the first half of the story, as his part in the battle had been truncated by Alex pulverizing him with his first attack. Yet when Isaac looked back at his friend, he saw one of Felix's classic pensive expressions. He had such a way about him as to look productive even if her was just listening and nodding his head. "Must come with being a teacher." Isaac thought.

This little recap of events was actually much more fun than Isaac had anticipated. The crowd's interest was genuine, and they gasped in all the right places. There were impressed whisperings when Mia told of how she had saved Garet with the column of water. Garet particularly enjoyed the shocked reaction he got when he showed the crowd his stone fist. One old woman even fainted, but she was not seriously injured. Yet the shock about Garet's arm was quickly replaced by that of hearing about Navampa's heroic sacrifice, and so on. There were some awkward moments, like the way they gaped at Mia when Jenna told them how she had choked the last Alex clone to death. No one had thought her capable of such wrath. But the fast pace of the story forced the audience to continue to redirect their attention.

When the story had progressed to the point where Felix had been healed and reentered the Chamber, he took the stand and had the audience in the palm of his hand. No one saw anything wrong with it as he had featured prominently in this part of the battle. They really couldn't argue with the new choice of narrator. Felix was a masterful storyteller. Even in the heat of combat, he never seemed to lose his keen eye for detail. Isaac could almost feel his sword shudder in his hands as Felix acted out and fluently described every strike. He was not the only one to notice. The rest of the group all seemed quite impressed with the job he was doing as well. Isaac heard Garet speak from behind him.

"Wow, he's good at this. I feel like I was there!"

Isaac didn't look back, but he somehow knew what was coming.

"OW!"

"You _were _there idiot!" Jenna said.

"Oh yeah, I remember it like it was just yesterday…"

"It _was _yesterday!"

"Quiet! I'm _trying_ to hear the story!"

"…"

Felix stepped down after he got to the point where Alex had defeated him. He left the podium to Isaac, who recounted their final, finishing attack. He was going to conclude there, but, despite the fact that she was standing there before them unscathed, the crowd still wanted to know what happened to Jenna. When she was asked, she had to admit that she didn't know. She hadn't woken up until Mia had healed her outside the Chamber.

Isaac realized that Garet had yet to address the townspeople. He figured prominently in this part following the battle, so Isaac asked him to take the stand. Garet had almost never spoken publicly before, but he'd never been the type to let inexperience stop him from doing something. He stood behind the podium and told of their search for Jenna.

Normally, anyone using the term "Zen thingy" wouldn't command much respect from a group of people, but the subject matter was suspenseful enough to keep them hanging on his very word. Even the rest of the adepts listened in, as the details that they had on these events were scant at best. Felix was stunned that Garet could master the ancient psynergetic meditation techniques, and Jenna blushed when Garet told everyone about the psynergetic mouth-to-mouth he had used to revive her.

"I thought I dreamed that…" She said.

"Must've been some nightmare." Isaac said.

He could hear Felix quietly taunting:

"Jenna and Garet sitting in a tree K-I urf!"

When Isaac next looked back, Felix was scowling with his hand over his eye.

"The chamber collapsed from the shattering of the ice just as Mia washed us out with that flood of melt water. Once we were all back on our feet, we headed home. Which is how we came to be here."

Isaac was relieved that Garet had left the part about his hair out. It took him a moment to realize that that was Garet's conclusion. Their audience had been updated on everything they'd missed up until the present. Excited chatter filled the room again, and Isaac prepared himself for an onslaught of questions. The familiar voice of a wizened old sage cut through the din before anyone got a chance to ask anything.

"As an informed witness who has yet to contribute anything, I feel that I should be next to take the stand."

------

If you're like me and you have the memory span of a schizophrenic goldfish, you need a good recap every once in a while.


	27. Alchemy 101

Ok here we go. Kraden talks _a lot_ in this chapter. You may want to break out a dictionary for this one. The italicized paragraphs are where Kraden is adressing the audience. It gives it that Tolkienesque, old-guy-explaining-the-backstory feel. Or at least I _hope_ that's what it does...

Chapter 26:

The group looked out through the hall as Kraden shuffled through the crowd. They realized that they had casually passed over his involvement in the story because their battle with Alex seemed more important at the time. The adepts stepped down into the crowd, as they wanted to hear Kraden's side of the story as well.

"Might I have a seat?" Kraden asked. "This could take some time."

A member of the crowd surrendered a wooden chair and it was passed up on stage. "Very well, I suppose I shall begin at the beginning."

Kraden took his seat and addressed the crowd.

_It all began one month ago. As many of you know I refuse to stand for how little we know about Alchemy. Thus I have dedicated what remains of my years in this world to understanding it. A few of you have participated in the comparative studies I have done on your psynergies in recent months._

Though it wasn't exactly news, just about everyone did indeed remember those experiments. Kraden had set up a strange contraption in his laboratory called "The Elemental Psiometer" that, he explained, was used to detect psynergy and elemental balance, among other things. A few asked questions about it, but Kraden's explanation of the machine's inner workings was just as complex as the machine itself.

It sprawled over a beaten old oak dining table from Garet's. Garet was glad it was a reject, for now it had large stains from various noxious chemicals, and numerous holes drilled in it for bolts and pipes that ran though it. The machine itself had a simple metal frame, but that was where simplicity ended. It was a maze of copper pipes connected by dozens of improvised fittings. Valves, levers and pressure gauges, whose purpose were known only to Kraden, covered the maze of plumbing. Occasionally a lens or psynergy crystal could be seen if one looked at from the right angle. It made strange rattlings when active, and always seemed to be leaking steam from somewhere.

The only parts of the apparatus that the layman could understand were the four indicator devices. A small flame burned at the tip of one pipe. It burned with varying color and intensity depending on the presence of Mars psynergy. It never seemed to get much bigger than the flame of an oil lamp, but the burns on the ceiling suggested otherwise. Another branched pipe was topped with a vertical glass canister half-filled with water. Even though the machine was still, the water was in constant motion. Waves thought impossible to happen in such a small space crashed and frothed constantly. There were also a few ice crystals at the top that never seemed to vanish. An anemometer was attached to the top of the device. Though it was indoors, it spun with some noticeable speed, and often wobbled in unpredictable directions. Though there was an hourglass on the table to measure observation cycles, the one that attracted interest was the one attached to a rotating drum in the machine. The sand drained from one lobe to the other slowly just like a normal hourglass, but it didn't settle to the bottom. The tiny grains whizzed around inside like a swarm of agitated insects. The basic principle was that the amount of activity within each indicator showed how much psynergy of each element was present.

_The findings of my preliminary experiments were nothing noteworthy. The activity of each element exactly corresponds to the classic elemental interaction chart, based on the element's thermal alignment, and by the disparity in the respective level of corporeality of the two elements being compared._

Kraden made it sound very complicated, as usual, but the nature of elemental interactions was common knowledge to everyone. The elements interacted based on whether they were heating or cooling, and by how much solidity they had. The first categories are easy to define. Mercury and Jupiter both cool their surroundings, Mars and Venus warm them.

The corporeality scale is less intuitively obvious, but just as fundamental. The elements are divided as they are because of differences in their solidity. Venus is firm and unyielding under all stresses. Mercury flows gently and reforms to fit its surroundings. Jupiter is but a gentle wisp, only capable of strength when moving at great speed. Mars is pure energy with no substance whatsoever, and is incapable of exerting any physical force.

_As many of you know, these two scales combine to determine an element's interaction with the other three elements. Any element can be either aligned, opposed, or indifferent to the other three elements. Elements are always aligned with those that have the same thermal alignment. Mercury aligns with Jupiter, and Venus aligns with Mars. In interactions of opposing elements, the corporeality scale comes in. The element in question will be indifferent to the one with a corporeality rating closer to itself, and opposed to the one with a greater disparagement. _

_For example, Mercury is indifferent to Venus because they are close in solidity, and is opposed to Mars because energy and liquid have a greater difference between them. So, when a Mercury adept casts psynergy near the machine, the water becomes agitated, the anemometer spins slightly faster, the hourglass is unaffected, and the flame diminishes. The setting of Djinn and changing of classes and available psynergies produces proportionate increases in the respective psynergies in question. _

_All the experiments were going as scheduled, until one of our volunteers cancelled their appointment. We had been asking of volunteers from the village so that we could have a diverse sample group for studying their psynergy. Isaac didn't want to lose the opportunity to perform another battery of tests, so he suggested that he could cast some psynergy and I operated the Psiometer. What I noticed was an intense spike in Mars psynergy when Isaac began casting, much more than normally would occur from even an aligned element._

_At first, I thought that this was because of Isaac's presence at the firing of the Mars beacon. This theory would explain it, but there was a mountain of evidence that shot it down quickly. He was also at the aerie of the Venus Lighthouse upon its being lit, and was inside the Jupiter Lighthouse when it was fired as well, and he showed no abnormal peaks in those elements. Later tests proved that Jenna did not have any Mercury influence, even though she was at the Mercury Aerie upon its being lit. I was in the area of the firings as well and I have manifested no psynergetic influence of any kind. _

_If anyone was to exhibit any ability because of the power of the lighthouses, it would've been Felix. He was standing at the Aerie during the firing of all four lighthouses. When the Psiometer showed no unusual reaction to him, I went in search of a new explanation._

_I carefully sifted through the memories and observations of the past five years of various people of interest, trying to find where Isaac could've acquired such powerful Mars influence. I came up with only one time during which this could've happened. It was five years ago, inside Mount Aleph while it still stood. When Jenna and I were led away from the Star Chamber by Saturos and Menardi when it began to collapse Isaac and Garet were left alone with the Mars Star. They said that they acquired the Star and that the Wise One used the power within it to save them. I never thought to inquire more about it until I came upon this new discovery. _

_The more I thought about it, the more it became clear that the Wise One had the ability to save them without the power of the Mars Star. He was created within the mountain, and so his power is tied directly to it. Yet Garet and Isaac both hold that he channeled the Mars Star to unlock this power. I don't doubt their accounts, but I do doubt that the Wise One was willing to reveal his true intentions._

_The Wise One told Isaac to remove the Mars Star from its Mythril Bag and hold it aloft, but he never said why. The idea that he used it to save them was actually a later assumption by Isaac. The Wise One did indeed channel the Star, but he did not take its power. He gave it to Isaac._

_I had often pondered why Alex's plan to acquire the Stone of Sages failed. And now I have my answer. The Wise One showed incredible foresight in granting some of the Mars Star's power to Isaac. He knew of Alex's treachery, but his vow that he would not interfere in the affairs of men prevented him from saying so. The only way that he could guarantee that the complete power of the Stone of Sages would not fall into Alex's hands was to divide that power, so that it would not all go to one place even if Isaac failed at his quest to prevent the lighting of the beacons. My guess is that he never expected Isaac to intentionally fail to prevent the lighting of the beacons. That's why he seemed distressed when he found out that we had learned the Proxians' motivations for what they had done. He and the teachings of the Elders had led us to believe that firing the Lighthouses would lead to the release of a great evil, and we were meant to act on that belief. _

_Now that we knew the truth, he knew that we would stop at nothing to see the beacons fired. He had counted on Isaac's interference to delay the lighting of the beacons long enough for him to attend to Alex. However, now that we were intent on lighting the beacon, he had to create a diversion of his own, do he created the Doom Dragon and set him upon us to buy him time to get back to Mount Aleph and confront Alex._

"The Wise one fought Alex?" A man in the crowd asked.

"That is what I assume." Kraden replied. "Since he was to have gained dominion over all of Weyard, and yet we have seen neither hide nor hair of him until yesterday. Only a great force such as the Wise One could've prevented Alex's ascension to power."

"It doesn't seem as if the Wise One is unable to interfere." Said Steven incredulously. He whispered aside to Varik, who was writing furiously. "Listen to this Varik, it's _your _question."

"I am listening." Varik said. "It's just that this story would make such a killer song and I've got to get this all down before I lose my muse!"

Kraden continued regardless of how distracted Varik appeared.

_We are all well aware for the apparent flexibility of that doctrine. Without the Wise One's intervention, Isaac and Garet would've been killed by the eruption of Mount Aleph. Not to mention the thousands if not millions of deaths that would've occurred in towns near the lighthouses due to the release of Alchemy had they not been warned._

"And Vale." Felix said. "Because the Wise One told everyone to evacuate, only empty buildings were destroyed."

"Indeed."

"He also turned our parents into a huge dragon and made us fight them!" Jenna said. "He can't be all good."

"As I have said Jenna, that dragon had a very important purpose. It also may have been a test of our resolve to fire the Mars Beacon. I daresay fighting your parents would be a challenge worthy of the occasion."

"Why is there such a doctrine anyway?" One of the Sanctum Elders asked. "It would seem to me that an entity such as the Wise One would operate best without limit."

_An excellent question. It would seem as if a being of such power would have no restrictions on its choices of action. However, I feel that the Wise One that we know today is a poor representation of his original purpose. My belief is that the Wise One was originally intended to be a simple purveyor of information. He was created by the Sol Warriors who sealed Alchemy so that he could carry the ancient knowledge down through the generations. Stone was the most permanent material they knew of, so that was what he was made of. Since knowledge changes and evolves, and requires both interpretation and perspective to understand, they used their power to grant the stone sentience. Anyone seeking knowledge could come to him. That's where the name "The Wise One" came from. And so it went for centuries._

"How does this tie in with the Wise One that we know today?"

_The Wise One was created only share the ancient knowledge with the people around him, not to interfere with their affairs. In that respect the Sol Warriors had planned well. However, what they had not anticipated was the effect that this existence would have on the consciousness. One can learn just as much from listening to the questions of others as from asking them. The Wise One's knowledge grew over time and knowledge is power, literally so in the case of psynergy. The Wise One was never intended to have the power that he does now. He gained it through the study and understanding of the knowledge that he was created to pass down. Since he was not created with the capacity to interfere in the affairs of men and only gained it later on, he is now prevented from doing so by his very reason for being._

_Ah, but it seems my discussion of the actions of Sol Sanctum's ancient denizens has gotten me off track from my original purpose. I was informing you about how I became trapped in the Chamber of Necessity before the children found me there._

The use of the word "children" ruffled a few feathers among the adepts as they all felt that they had matured significantly in recent years, but Kraden was indisputably their elder, so he had the right to refer to them as such.

_Typically, the Psiometer is only responsive to the active psynergies of the people in the room. However, I had recently discovered a way of extending its scope of observation to theoretically infinite distances by polarizing the psynergetic field to induct a component resonant field in the…_

Kraden could see that he was quickly losing his audience.

_Well… you need not concern yourself with the details. The point is that I extended the device's range and it detected the same spike in Mars psynergy. When I triangulated the respective angles of incidence of the Golden and mundane suns, I found it's location to be five-hundred yards up the East face of Aleph Basin. I had found ruins near there before, so I made that area the target of my next expedition._

---------

An odd spot for a chapter break I'll admit, but this one was approaching rediculous length. Plus I wanted to stop before your brains had completely liquefied so that you were still able to articulate a review. Feel free to use small words. ;)


	28. Soundscape

Where were we? Oh yeah, an old man was talking about stuff.

Chapter 27:

Kraden continued to expound upon his work to the crowd.

_It was there that I found the fabled Chamber of Necessity. Within the lore that I have read, I have found that it was the only building designed to withstand the release of Alchemy. The rest of Sol Sanctum was constructed with the mindset that such a thing was inconceivable. Yet this room was constructed as one last bit of insurance against the unthinkable. It is said, that those who wield Alchemy's power are unstoppable. So there was no other course than to provide them with a place to meet and discuss the fate of what would inevitably become their world. _

_I made note of the fact that the prophecies all spoke of the possessors of Alchemy's power, since any one man who had Alchemy's full potential under his control would be utterly unstoppable. Since Isaac appeared to have gained a fraction of this power through the Wise One, but showed no sign of it other than the spike in Mars psynergy, I knew that the rest of that power had to go somewhere. I had deemed it impossible that Alex had survived the collapse of Mount Aleph, let alone being trapped for five years within the basin. Yet I will be the first to admit that I am not always correct._

_I believe the remainder of my tale is quite apparent to those of you who have been following along. The soil concealing the chamber was loose and fell away easily to reveal the doors of the chamber. I could not resist further investigating such an unprecedented discovery. I opened the chamber and entered. It was there that I came face-to-face with Alex._

"You have all been patient listeners, and I am satisfied that I have told you all that you need to know." Kraden said. He glanced out the window at the sun, it was nearly noon. "I believe that this meeting may be adjourned."

A few in the crowd spoke amongst themselves, most of them agreed with Kraden. They had had just about all the information they could handle. The Mayor stood up and addressed the crowd.

"Well it seems that you have gotten what you came for. You may disperse at your leisure."

A few left at this, eager to get caught up on affairs that they had missed this morning. Not all of them had been as fortunate as the adepts; some had skipped breakfast in order to get to the meeting early.

Isaac idly observed the slowly shifting crowd. He was relieved that Kraden was here to provide all the answers. It looked as if some people had more questions, but they clearly needed a break from all the history lessons before they would be ready to seek out any other information. Isaac turned around and noticed that his friends all appeared deep in thought. It seemed that Kraden's little lecture had not been lost on the rest of his party. Well, most of them anyway…

Garet sat in a chair against the wall and hung his head.

"Uhg… My brain hurts." He groaned. "Kraden isn't allowed to talk anymore."

"It wasn't _that_ bad Garet." Said Felix, "I found it rather interesting."

He and Isaac exchanged a glance. Even though Kraden had gone out of his way to explain things in extreme detail, they were among very few people in the room with the necessary background knowledge to understand everything he was saying.

"Of course _you _would." Jenna snapped. "You sound just like him!"

"You say that like it's a bad thing Jenna." She was startled by Kraden's voice coming from behind her. "I may be old, but my hearing's not gone yet you know.

"Well I uh, that's not what I meant."

"Save it Jenna. I'm too tired to make a big deal out of this now. You may feel free to ridicule my oration skills after I leave."

Without waiting for a response, Kraden walked away headed for the door.

"Ooh, busted!" Felix said.

"Shut up Felix. You ask anyone in here and they'll tell you that speech was as exciting as watching an apple brown."

"Hey, that's more fun than it sounds." Garet said.

"Oh, honestly!"

Isaac's attention was distracted from his friends' conversation by someone tapping him on the shoulder. He turned and saw that it was Seryn, the widow of a local merchant. She stood before him in a frilled light green housecoat that made her look a bit like a peacock. She seemed extremely worried as she spoke.

"Isaac, you had a good view, have you seen Kera?"

Isaac thought for a moment. Kera was Seryn's thirteen-year-old daughter. He knew little about her other than the fact that she was a Jupiter adept as she was quite shy as they had little occasion to run into one another, but he was sure that he would recognize her if he saw her.

"Not that I was expressly looking for her, but no I haven't seen her."

"Oh, ok…" She sighed and walked back into the crowd. Isaac heard her mumble something like, "probably went to see himagain, that forest is so dangerous…"

His mood a bit dampened, Isaac returned to his friends.

"What was that all about?" Felix asked.

"Kera is missing again."

"_Again?_" Said Mia suddenly. "Oh that girl makes me worry so. I can't imagine what Seryn is going through."

Kera was among only a few people that used the path leading to the Fortress. Mia had seen her walking by numerous times, sometimes returning after nightfall. The deserted Fortress path also led to the cemetery, it was not a popular locale, but Kera frequented it. Her father had died when she was quite young, and she had never taken the loss well. She visited her father's grave, alone, making everyone worry about her. The path to the graveyard was not well kept, but she always seemed to return unscathed.

"We could all give ourselves gray hairs worrying about _her_." Garet said. "That's just as easily left to other people."

"For once he's got a point." Felix said. "The collective will of half the town it dedicated to seeing her home safe. We needn't trouble ourselves."

The adepts were momentarily distracted by a sound from outside. The faint strumming of various chords on a lute could be heard from a distance. Varik could be seen outside working on his latest masterpiece.

"Ugh, 'Alchemy' doesn't rhyme with _anything!_" He mumbled, scratching out something on a piece of paper. "'Psynergy' is no picnic either." He started strumming again, waiting for inspiration to come to him.

_Inside the caves with dangers fraught,_

_Wars were waged and battles fought._

_For from this ground,_

_Had come the sound,_

_Of a menace; to doom us all._

_As Fighters came, as victors left,_

_A mountainside in twinde and cleft._

"Hmm… is 'twinde' a real word? Well if it isn't, it's close enough."

Varik read over the paper again.

"It's still missing something… Well they all have short names, maybe I can work some of those into it."

Isaac was distracted from the frustrated mumblings of the bard outside by a faint sound in the distance. A clang of metal. If he hadn't been straining his ears to hear Varik he never would've picked it out of all the chatter in the room.

"Did any of you guys hear that?" He asked.

"Yeah," Garet replied. "That song was terrible."

"Not _that._"

Clank!

"That!"

"I heard it too." Mia said. It's coming from the north; let's go outside where it's quieter."

The adepts waded through what remained of the crowd and walked out behind the Town Hall. They listened intently. What met their ears was not what they expected, but it was loud enough that even deaf-as-a-post Garet could pick it out. A scream.

--------

And t3hsusp3nc3bull1t0fdo0m is back! Did you miss it? Yeah, I can tell.


	29. Mysterious Stranger

Chapter 28:

"Come on!" Isaac said.

None of them needed any other instruction; they knew that they had to help. They ran towards the edge of town in the direction of the sound. Isaac heard it again. It was definitely the voice of a young girl, and she was in real trouble. Hearing it almost made him wince. He knew that they couldn't keep running in a straight line the whole time. They'd run into forest eventually. Mia suddenly stopped for a moment, trying to fix onto the sound. A split second later she pointed and said:

"The Fortress path. That'll take us to it!"

No one bothered to ask how she knew. They let her through so that she could lead as she caught up with them. Their feet thudded heavily against the tall grass of the path. As the tops of the parapets of the Fortress came in to view, a thought occurred to Isaac.

"Did anyone bring a weapon?" He asked. "If she's being attacked by something we'll have to fight it."

A stunned realization hit them all. They had left their equipment at their homes.

"We'll have to fight with just psynergy." Felix said.

They were rapidly approaching the fork where the Graveyard path diverged from the Fortress path.

"Then we may as well come prepared!" Isaac said.

He thrust forth his psynergy in the direction of the Fortress. The rush of Venus Psynergy knocked the vault-like door wide open.

"Good thinking Isaac!" Mia said. She withdrew a small silver whistle from the front of her robe and blew in it. It left their ears ringing, but it also caused a flurry of djinn to fly out of the open door towards them. The adepts stopped for a moment to catch their breath and set the necessary djinn. There was a cacophony of flashes and busts of energy as the adepts quickly selected their team. Everyone was almost finished. Isaac and Felix had stay behind a moment. Venus djinn were not blessed with great speed. Isaac watched as a few straggling djinn hobbled over to them.

"Go on! We'll only be a minute." He said.

"You'd better-

Have a good reason-

Isaac!" A panting Granite said as he approached.

"You know we do." He said. "That's why Mia has that whistle in the first place."

"All right then." In a brief flash of yellow light, he vanished, and Isaac felt his power bond with his spirit.

"All right Felix we can-"

He turned to see that no one was behind him.

"Go?"

He mumbled something irritably as he took off down the path after his friends. He caught up with the rest of the group quickly because they had slowed slightly. This wasn't just because they were tired, but because they had all take notice of the dark clouds beginning to form ahead and wanted to proceed with caution. It wasn't much past noon, but the thunderclouds had severely blackened the sky. They heard the clanging sound again and quickened their pace. A moment later, the girl's voice shouted "Plasma!" A charged purple bolt shot down from the clouds to the ground ahead, they all turned towards it. They arrived at the Graveyard and saw a strange robed figure bearing down on Kera. He advanced on her with a somewhat ungainly shambling movement. His robe was old, moldy and threadbare, but it completely shrouded his appearance from them.

Kera was clearly terrified as she fled from the strange figure. Her attire was muddy and torn. She jumped to the side as her attacker swung a rusty sword at her. He struck with a single-minded determination unlike any warrior they had ever seen. His attack glanced off a tombstone and they all recognized the clang. Kera whirled around and held up her trembling hands. "B-blue Bolt!" She yelled. There was a brilliant flash and the bolt hit its mark with impressive speed. The figure's shoulders rolled back with the force of the attack, but he did not slow his advance in the slightest. Charged sparks arced across his body, but he paid them no mind.

As Isaac rushed to get into striking distance with the others, he was amazed at the strange man's resiliency. He had been hit with a Blue Bolt attack before, it was very painful and yet this man was completely unfazed by it. The man raised his arm and a lightning bolt shot from the end of his sleeve. "Resist!" Kera yelled. A luminous barrier appeared in front of her just in time to soften the impact of the bolt. She was unharmed, but was knocked backwards as the barrier shattered. The attacker resumed his slow plod towards Kera.

"Earthquake!" Felix yelled.

The man shifted his weight around lethargically, trying to regain his balance as the ground heaved beneath him. He seemed quite strong, and his psynergetic aura was very powerful, but he was unusually clumsy. He turned to face his new threat.

"Stop or we will have no choice but to attack!" Mia yelled.

His reaction was difficult to gauge because his face was shrouded in darkness by his hood. However he made his intentions quite clear. He raised his sword and the swirling clouds above funneled down to them in a powerful tempest attack.

"Get down!" Isaac yelled.

The group lied down on their stomachs and fought to keep themselves from being sucked into the vortex. They were assailed with sticks and pebbles kicked up by the wind, but were otherwise unharmed. They scrambled back to their feet just in time for Isaac to dodge an overhand swing from his opponent. He jumped to the side and yelled:

"Keep your distance and try to outflank him! We've got nothing to defend ourselves with at close range."

Felix stood his ground as the others rounded on the strange man.

"That's what you think!" He said. As his adversary swung his sword down, Felix raised an angled stone pillar in the weapon's path. The sword buried itself in the stone with a heavy crunch. To Felix's surprise, the man grunted and wrenched his sword from the pillar, shattering the stone easily. He swept his cloaked arm across his chest and knocked Felix over with a blast of wind. He raised his sword for the final strike.

-------

I had forgotten how much fun cliffhangers were! Wheeeee!


	30. Keystone

Well since no one said anything about last chapter I'm going to assume that it was flawless and keep going as I had planned to.

Chapter 29:

Garet flattened the attacker with a savage blow from his stone fist. The man pulled himself upright again, enraged but seemingly unharmed by the attack. Mia wasted no time.

"Freeze prism!" She yelled.

The man whipped his sword through the air with great speed, smashing the gargantuan ice blocks that assailed him. But the cold made the rusty blade brittle, and it quickly shattered. The rest of the hail of ice found its mark. It wasn't long before a pile of ice stood where there was once a mysterious assailant. As the cloud of frigid air began to settle, Mia relaxed her psynergy. Jenna was next to her and saw the man get crushed, but she was more apprehensive. A crackling flame aura still danced around her hands.

"Jenna, it's all ri-"

A lightning bolt blasted out of the side of the pile of ice and struck Mia in the chest, knocking her backwards. A primal, raspy wail of deafening volume issued from the ice as the assailant smashed his way out. Isaac could hear the resounding howl echoing into the desolate wilderness as he approached from the far side of the ice.

"Serpent Fume!" Yelled Jenna as she flung a serpentine cloud of flame at the man. It exploded on contact with considerably more force than normal and completely incinerated her foe. She lowered her hands, stunned at what she had done. Garet, as usual, was quick to shatter the tense atmosphere as soon as he reached the scene.

"Holy crap Jenna!" He yelled. "You exploded him!"

Isaac looked at the empty space where their opponent had been. Apart from his inaccurate conjugation, Garet was quite correct. There were only a few wisps of dust on the ground and some shreds of tattered cloth fluttering about. Their foe had been utterly annihilated.

Felix lifted Mia from the ground. The front of her robes had been seared and wrinkled by the attack, but she easily healed her injuries without a second thought.

"Let's check on Kera." Isaac said. "Perhaps she knows something about this."

The group rushed over to where Kera had fallen. She was lying on her back; she rolled her head slightly as the approached. Isaac lifted her up into a sitting position.

"Kera, what happened?" He asked.

"H-he came from…" She stammered. Her voice shook just as much as her body. They could barely understand her. "The cr… the c-cave over th-there. I was…"

She fell backwards again. Isaac laid her back onto the ground.

"How serious is it Mia?" He asked.

Mia quickly looked over her patient. "Her physical injuries are remarkably light considering the circumstances." She said. It looks like most of these cuts and bruises here were sustained while she was running away. I imagine that she just fainted from fear and shock."

"I can hardly blame her." Jenna said. "That guy was creepy."

"Do you need us for anything Mia?" Felix asked.

"No, I can have her fixed up in a moment or two on my own." She replied. "Why do you ask?"

Felix looked over in the direction that Kera had pointed. "We should check it out. We still don't know who this guy was."

Isaac nodded. They left Mia and Kera behind and headed off to find out the strange man's origins. The sky was beginning to clear, so they could begin to pick out more details, but none of them could be sure exactly what they were looking for. They didn't know of any caves around this area, so they assumed that a new one would be easy to pick out. Indeed it was.

"Isaac, look at this!"

Felix was standing over a large hole in the ground. Isaac walked over and took a closer look. Were it not for the fact that they were looking for it, it would not have been a terribly noticeable hole. It was a rough oval of about five by two feet. It was obviously dug recently; the soil was still loose. It shifted and slid back into the ground occasionally from the vibrations of their movement. Isaac couldn't see the bottom by the slowly reappearing, but still hazy, daylight.

"Do you think that this was the cave she was talking about?" Felix asked.

"It's possible."

"Shouldn't we go down?" Garet asked. "I mean, this _is _our only clue."

"We'd best stay here and examine it from this vantage point for awhile first. Let's wait until the light returns before we try to investigate further."

Isaac was especially cautious as the absence of the scabbard on his back still remained in the front of his mind. He had delved into his share of dark caves. And his experience indicated that there were always unpleasant surprises waiting within them.

They began to circle the hole, looking for anything unusual that might be significant. Jenna and Garet both felt that this was pointless, but they weren't exactly in a rush to jump into some dark and mysterious hole either.

"Look here." Felix said, pointing to the grass at the edge of the hole. "The sod has been turned up at the edges. If this had been dug downwards, it would be slumped down from digging out the sides of the hole."

"So you're saying that this was an exit. Dug upwards from some kind of tunnel." Isaac said.

"That, or it was dug by psynergy. Of course there's more credence given to the tunnel idea since there's not enough dirt piled here on the surface to account for the size of the hole."

"I had thought of that…"

Jenna glanced around for a moment; this _incredibly_ dull conversation was getting to her. She saw Garet staring off at something in the distance. His attention had wandered _long_ before this point. The largely hole-related exchange that Isaac and her brother were so involved in quickly faded into irksome background noise. She didn't know how they could talk about dirt at a time like this. Some psycho had just tried to kill all of them for Luna's sake! Not to mention the fact that their encounter had ended when she, as Garet put it, 'exploded him.'

She wondered how they could talk so adamantly about dirt at _any_ time. It must come with being a Venus adept. It seemed to her that all adepts have an unusual, childish fascination with their element that never really goes away completely. When she was young, she often found herself distracted by the crackling of a fire in the background, or absently sitting for hours watching the flame of a candle. It was during one such vigil that she discovered she had the ability to control the flame with her will. A seemingly minor incident that changed her life forever. Whilst her mind was lost in nostalgia, her eyes fell upon a mostly-buried gray stone next to that contentious hole. Something about the rock drew her attention, and grounded her mind back in reality. She walked over and took a closer look at the stone as she continued to screen out the noise around her.

"Sinkholes are round Felix, and the gradient around them is uniform. This hole has neither of those characteristics."

"Sinkholes can form a caldera-like impression if the caprock is shallow and brittle."

"I'll give you that it's not _impossible_, but something tells me there's a better explanation."

"Hey professor boring," Jenna said "come take a look at this."

Her call for attention was solidly ignored. Isaac and Felix were too embroiled in their debate and Garet was watching a butterfly. Jenna was _not_ going to take this lying down.

"HEY! If you two would kindly close your **mouths**and open your **eyes** for a second!" She yelled.

The boys were definitely paying attention now, but they looked too afraid to speak, which was just fine with Jenna.

"It's marked with a stone. Maybe it's been charted or explored before."

Isaac looked at the stone to which Jenna referred. It was tough to discern if the rock had any significance. It was covered in moss and partially buried. It appeared to be natural at first, but it had a flat face and a square corner that suggested that it had been milled. He nodded at Felix, who removed the Scoop Gem from his pocket. He cleared the earth on top easily, but quickly struck hard ground. He bent down and looked at the stone.

"The dirt I've gotten off was tossed on top of the stone recently, most likely by the hole being dug, but this stuff has been covering it for some time, it's hard-packed and has thick sod on top." He said. "This will take time to move."

Isaac thought for a moment. "We don't need to move the dirt." He said. "That much will fall into place if we can just get the stone out of there."

"Each take a side?" Felix asked.

"You're crazy." Garet said. "Even I couldn't pull that out of there with just my hands."

"Who said that we were going to use our hands Garet?" Isaac said, taking a position on the other side of the rock.

The two reached out to the stone with their psynergy and it began to glow. They pulled against it with their thoughts, and it began to tear itself from the ground. The resiliency of the earth around it showed that it had definitely been set in the ground a very long time ago. When they moved it off to the side, Isaac saw that it was indeed a man-made stone tablet. It looked like some kind of shale, and there were edges of some text peeking out from under the moss. Isaac bent down and placed his hand on the top of the stone. He imbued it with enough psynergy to dry out the moss and loosen its grip on the stone. He pulled off a strip and observed the stone.

"It's a date." He said. "Fifty-Eight years ago."

Another solid yank revealed another date next to the first. This one was Seven years ago.

Isaac cleared the rest of the moss and looked closely at the newly exposed inscription. The sun finally broke though the clouds and they all saw what was written on the stone.

HERE LIES:

JACOB

MAY HE REST IN PEACE

---------

Wow, I can't think of a word that describes how I'm feeling right now.

Well maybe this one:

OMGWTFLOLHXCHAXXORZNFWBBQVCRPCPWXXIDVDPHDFCCHTML!


	31. Effective Leadership

Ok, huge delay relating to Easter Break. You guys probably don't care exactly why so I'm going to get right to the chapter.

Chapter 30:

They all stared, stunned, at the tablet; or rather, at the tombstone. Felix regained his composure first.

"Kera didn't say that it came from the cave over here. She said _grave._"

"Who was Jacob anyway?" Isaac asked.

"Who cares!" Jenna said. "He's supposed to be dead and he just attacked us!"

"Agreed." Isaac replied. "There is something more going on here."

"And what do you propose we do about it?" Felix asked.

Isaac looked down the hole. The sky had cleared enough for him to see the bottom. Were it not for the zombie that had recently risen from it, he would have no reason to suspect this grave. It looked perfectly normal. Six feet down was the indented lower floor of the grave. The turned up edges were from the grave's occupant tearing itself from the ground. No tunnel, cave, or anything else that would be of any use to them. There was clearly nothing else that the hole could tell them at this point.

He knew that there was something else that was eluding him, something other than an explanation of how this 'Jacob' had risen from the dead. This was typically the point where he would ask Ivan to use Reveal. He could sense that there was more that he was not seeing, but he had no way to uncover it here. They would have to return to Vale. Kraden would probably possess some insight on this, and he knew that one of the Sanctum's healers could use Reveal.

"We'll return to Vale." Isaac said. "We didn't come prepared at all this time. We shall revisit the Graveyard with our equipment, our wits about us, and the benefit of some research."

"Or we could just ask Kera." Garet said. "I'm pretty sure Jacob was her dad's name."

Isaac was stunned that this simple plan had not occurred to him. He had almost completely forgotten that Mia had been privy to none of this, and that he still didn't know Kera's condition.

"Uh, good idea." He said, trying to sound as if he had been planning that as well.

As they returned to the place where Kera had fallen, Mia took notice of them and delivered a dutiful report on her patient before they could even ask for one.

"Her injuries were quite simple to heal." She said. "However I have been unable to rouse her. It seems that only time will do that. We'll have to take her back to Vale. The healers at the Sanctum can verify that there isn't something I missed."

"Sounds like a plan." Isaac said. "Garet, do you think you can carry her?"

"No problem." Garet said. He walked up and swung Kera over his shoulder.

"Garet! She's not a sack of potatoes!" Jenna scolded.

Garet grunted as he shifted Kera's limp form into his arms. She didn't look comfortable with her head resting on the stone of Garet's right arm.

"You'll snap her neck if you hold her like that." Mia said. "Switch her around so that you're holding up her legs with your right arm."

"Anything else I'm doing wrong ladies?" He asked.

"Well yeah," Jenna said.

Mia interrupted her. "We don't need a whole list of faults Jenna. I'm sure that whatever it is you're thinking does not pertain to Kera, so we can get moving."

The group turned and headed towards the now sunny path back to town.

After they had entered the forest and settled into a good walking pace, Mia asked:

"So what did you find out about the man that attacked us?"

Garet quickly replied:

"He was a zombie and the rest of his undead brethren are going to rise up to smite the living."

"_Yeah…_" She said. "Isaac, what _really_ happened?"

"Actually he's not far off. We did find a grave whose occupant appeared to have recently dug himself out. And although we don't have any evidence of more, it's not beyond the realm of possibility since the extent of our knowledge of this situation is quite limited. That's why we're returning to Vale. We might be able to research some answers there, and if we can't, we can return here better prepared."

"Told you so." Garet teased. Mia said nothing about it. She had a remarkable tolerance for Garet's foolishness.

The journey continued on uneventfully for a few moments. Isaac approached Felix. He had had half a mind to do this back in the graveyard, but there were other concerns at that time.

"What happened back there?" He asked. "Your little stunt nearly cost you your life! And for what?"

"I think that you're overreacting a bit Isaac." Felix replied. "I always have my wits about me and I'm sure I could've gotten out of that without Garet's help."

"And overconfident too! Garet and a little luck were all that kept you from getting skewered by that zombie!"

"Confidence isn't a bad thing Isaac, it's what allows us to face the perils we do."

"And caution is what allows us to _survive_ those perils. I ordered everyone to flank him and attack with psynergy. A group attack doesn't work if you're playing hero."

"I wasn't 'playing hero.' I knew that I could take him on at close range with psynergy. Why would I want to delay by taking a flanking posture when I could take him out immediately?"

"You didn't 'take him out.' You almost got killed!"

"All right fine! I screwed up. I'm human, I'm entitled."

"I'm not mad because you screwed up, I'm mad because you defied my orders."

"And who says I'm obligated to follow your orders?"

"I did. And you're the only one who seems to have a problem with it."

Felix glanced briefly towards his friends. From the look they were giving him, he could tell that they agreed with Isaac. He turned back to see that Isaac was looking into his eyes with a very direct and serious expression.

"Felix," Isaac said. "You know that I've never done anything for the glory. If you want to dispute my authority, fine. I don't want to be a leader of a group in which anyone disapproves. But keep your protests _off_ the battlefield."

He became very distant and detached in a very... _Issac_ fashion.

"I've seen some bad omens before; this one definitely makes my top five. And if this situation gets worse, I need to know that you're in my corner. Can I count on you?"

"Yes Isaac." Felix said. "If I have a plan I'll tell it to you so that we can agree on it."

"That's all I ask."

The group continued in silence.

-------

What's up with the seriousness? I don't know either. I guess that I was just in the mood for some inner conflicts. Respond and other such things if you please.


	32. At the Sanctum

Chapter 31:

The Fortress came into view again.

"Should we drop our Djinn off here?" Mia asked. Hoping to break the silence.

"We'll keep them with us if it's all the same to you Mia." Isaac replied. "We may need them in case anything unforeseen happens."

Isaac sounded confident, but inside he was praying to whatever god would listen that nothing 'unforeseen' would happen.

"Where are we going from here then?" Felix asked.

Isaac wasn't used to being asked about how to proceed by Felix. Had he been too hard on him? Well, it was too late to go back now.

"To the Sanctum to drop off Kera." He said. "Then to the lab. Kraden will want to hear of this."

The Fortress receded into the distance behind them, and it wasn't long before the party stood at the gates of the Sanctum. It was a large stone cave, as per tradition, this was Vale's new Sanctum, as the old one had been destroyed by the release of Alchemy. It didn't quite have that 'ancient chamber' feel to it, but it was getting there. A guard turned to face them as they approached.

"State your purpose." The guard said in a stately manner.

"We need the Great Healer to have a look at Kera, and seek his advice in a few other matters."

The guard looked at the unconscious girl in Garet's arms

"Granted." He said

The guard pulled back the great double doors of the Sanctum to admit them. Their eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness of the cavern. They found a strip of ornate red carpet and followed it to the main chamber. The Great Healer's deep purple eyes looked up from the book he was reading as the adepts entered. His long white beard swayed as he spoke.

"Ah, welcome young heroes, what has brought you to the Sanctum?"

"This girl." Isaac said. "She was attacked in the graveyard. We need to know if she's ok, and it would be nice if she could answer some questions about what happened to her.

Garet stepped forward and the Great Healer reached his hand out towards Kera and placed his hand on her forehead. He closed his eyes and a psynergetic aura enveloped both of them. He spoke as he psynergetically assessed her.

"She has undeniably experienced great trauma, but her injuries from the encounter have been well tended."

Mia smiled at this. Praise from the Great Healer was no small matter to her. The Great Healer broke the link and addressed the adepts.

"She faces no immediate risk, however she will only return to consciousness with time. I will place her under our finest care, and you will be notified when she awakes."

"How long will that be?" Felix asked.

"Such impatience! What is so urgent about this girl that she must be shaken from her slumber so immediately?"

"We think that the creature that attacked her poses a threat to Vale." Isaac said. "We need to know more about it."

"Indeed. However it is difficult to say. A wandering spirit can sometimes take days to return to its vessel."

"We may not _have_ days Great Healer."

"Very well. If such a threat does in fact loom over Vale, I will attempt to divine what I can from her memory."

The powerful aura once again encircled the two of them. He closed his eyes again and concentrated. The aura shifted from a calm healing light into the torrid miasma of an invasive mind-read.

"Her memories of the event are vague, but intact. I will attempt to draw them from her consciousness."

The Great Healer gave a brief gasp of pain. Before anyone could react, the aura brightened, then flashed and blasted outward violently as the Great Healer was driven back by a wave of energy. Garet nearly dropped Kera from the intensity of the shock. The Healer looked down at his hand. It was smoking gently from the intense psynergy and was severely burned. It didn't seem to shake his composure as he addressed the adepts though.

"Some power, greater than my own is blocking her memory from outside access. We now have no choice but to wait."

Another healer, most likely a Venus adept by his black hair and dark complexion, appeared at the door to the chamber. The Great Healer addressed him.

"Take Kera to the infirmary. Notify me the moment she wakes. And send word to Seryn in town, I'm sure that she will want to hear that her daughter has been found."

As he watched the healer take Kera from Garet's arms, Isaac thought:

"Either the Great Healer is much more perceptive than he looks, or he isn't telling us something. We never told him her name. How does he know Kera?"

Mia had stood in awe of the Great Healer for most of the time thus far. As a master of the art of healing psynergy, he was somewhat of an idol to her. However her unwavering concern for others showed through as she approached him.

"Great Healer," She said. "Your hand…"

He extended it out for her to see. Without waiting for her to spring into action and attend to it, he closed it into a loose fist. Pure light seeped through his fingers, and when he opened his hand again, it was completely healed as if nothing had happened.

"You have more immediate concerns than the plight of an elderly sage young Luminer."

"He knew her class!" Isaac thought. "What is going on here?"

"Concerns such as?" Felix asked.

"There is a great and mysterious power at work here. I do not have enough information to tell you anything more about it."

He spied the scuffing and dried mud on Felix's clothing.

"You bear the marks of recent combat." He said. "Did you encounter this creature?"

"We did." Felix replied. "When we got there it was attacking Kera and we fought it off."

Felix relayed the important details of the fight, their discoveries at the grave afterwards, and their current plan.

"Most distressing." The Great Healer said. "What you have described to me, it… I can only pray that I am wrong."

"Wrong about what?" Isaac asked.

"You needn't concern yourself with that at the moment. However you are correct, more information on the subject is needed before we proceed further. Kraden should hear of this, go and speak to him. I shall remain here and consult the ancient texts, there is sure to be something written of this."

"There is one more thing we need, an adept capable of using reveal."

"Then your search is over."

The Great Healer raised his hand, there was a sudden flash, and Isaac suddenly saw the room around him with perfect clarity, unobscured by the dimness of the cave. The Great Healer released his psynergy, and the gloom of the cave returned.

"He's a Jupiter adept!" Isaac thought. "That's how he knew so much."

"Correct Isaac." The Great Healer said. "I try not to pry into the minds of my visitors too much, but many of your thoughts were quite apparent, I could not easily ignore them."

"Indeed." Isaac said.

"Though I am not so young as I once was, this is a matter of great importance, so I am at your disposal for a return trip to the graveyard."

"Good to know. We'll be back."


	33. Knowing One's Enemy

Chapter 32:

The group headed out through the short tunnel to the entrance, and shielded their eyes as they once again stepped into the sunlight. The sky was blue and clear, with no indication of the tempest that had roiled over the Graveyard only an hour or so ago. They turned at the fork in the road and headed for Kraden's house. The journey was uneventful, if a little drawn out. Kraden lived a considerable distance from town, no one had ever really asked him why…

Isaac knocked at the door.

"Come on in Isaac." Came Kraden's reply. "Ah, and you've brought company!"

Isaac stared at the door. Was _everyone _way ahead of him today? He nonetheless opened the door and walked over to Kraden as his friends filed in. Everyone took a quick look around the place as they stepped in. It was quite apparent that the only way for two people to live here was for both of them to be very dedicated to their work. It was a small house, with only three rooms on the first floor, presumably two bedrooms upstairs. The building itself was quite new; with fine mahogany paneling that was some of Steven's finest work. However the newness ended there. The walls were stacked with dusty old tomes and scrolls. As well as various nick-knacks and artifacts that Kraden had collected over the years.

Kraden was at a small work table, scribbling on a notepad as he observed some thick fluid in a flask above a small oil flame. Although he was curious, Isaac knew better than to ask what he was doing. He didn't have time to hear the full explanation of Kraden's latest scientific project, so he went with a different way of breaking the ice.

"How did you know it was us?" Isaac asked.

Kraden smiled. "You only knock when you have company." He leaned to the side and spoke up so that the rest of the group could hear him. "And _they _never knock at all." He turned back to Isaac. "So what brings you here? I haven't been too caught up on everyone's reaction since I've been avoiding town. For once I've had my fill of explaining things to people."

"There's a first time for everything." Garet mumbled.

"We haven't been to town either." Isaac said. "And I think that you'd be interested to know why."

Kraden turned off the flame under the flask and turned to them.

"You're not one to exaggerate the gravity of a situation Isaac, so I know that this must be important. By all means explain."

Isaac recounted their experiences at the graveyard and the Sanctum to Kraden. It seemed to Isaac that the Sanctum was an afterthought, but Kraden paid particular attention to his description of the Great Healer's reaction.

Kraden pondered for a moment. The adepts waited in anxious silence, hoping that he would have some answers.

"From what you've told me," He said. "I think that the Great Healer has come to the same conclusion that I have, only he does not wish to believe it."

"So are you going to tell us?" Isaac asked.

"Yes, the burden of knowledge is a heavy one, but you are the ones who need to hear this most of all."

Kraden leaned back in his chair, and carefully chose his words before speaking.

"As you are well aware, the Stone of Sages possesses near-infinite power. Transmuting lead into gold, fueling the fires of life, creation, civilization and perhaps even existence itself at its most basic level. One of the famous quotations used to describe it goes something like this: 'The wielder of this legendary artifact is granted boundless power. Even death is subjugated by this awe inspiring mystic stone.' The Stone of Sages is foretold to have abilities and cannot be enumerated; some may even be beyond our comprehension."

"What does the Stone of Sages have to do with this?" Felix asked. "It hasn't ever been found or proven to exist. Even some very stalwart supporters are beginning to think that it was just a myth."

"Indeed. It would appear that the Stone of Sages has yet to make any physical manifestation, but that is not why I am telling you about it. If I may continue?"

Felix nodded.

"As I was saying, the Stone has almost unlimited power. Since my recent discovery that Isaac was granted some of the power from the Mars Star, the concept of infinite power has been somewhat of a conundrum to me. What happens when you divide something that has no limit? Even from a purely mathematical standpoint, splitting infinity is a paradox. What happens if you divide infinity into pieces? Shouldn't even a tiny fraction of infinite power _be_ infinite? The answer to these questions was lost within the questions themselves. The reason that these questions are unanswerable is what gave me the answer I that was looking for."

This was obviously a great revelation to Kraden, everyone else seemed considerably less excited about it. Seeing the looks on their faces, Kraden explained in greater detail.

"Splitting infinity is not possible. That's why I use the phrase 'near infinite' when all the scriptures say 'infinite.' I believe that this was a mistranslation; the words may have no modern equivalent. Isaac called the hall you entered the 'Chamber of Affirmation,' I believe that the meaning was closer to 'Necessity' and others may say different. Who is to say which one of us is right? These ancient languages have nuances which may be lost forever, making a direct translation nearly impossible. It is even possible that it was not the language. It may be that the scribes of the age were unaware of the limits of the Stone of Sages. In any case, since infinity can't be divided, it is clear that the Stone of Sages has limits to its power because that power _can_ be divided, as demonstrated by the fraction that Isaac was granted by the Wise One."

"Why does any of this matter?" Felix asked.

"It was a major breakthrough in my research. Once I knew that the power could be divided, I researched into what would happen if it _were_ divided. Would it transmute lead into _aluminum?_ Give life to _half_ the world? I came up with only one manuscript that had the answers I was looking for. The author was one of the scribes of Sol Sanctum's great library. He made a name for himself as a theoretical alchemist. He never got his hands dirty in a lab doing experiments because his theories could not be tested. He spent his days in front of a chalkboard pondering the mysteries of our world. He theorized, that the stone's power to conquer death could be divided, and that fractions of that power could restore partial life, creating creatures called Vodoun."

"What do you mean 'partial life'?"

"Supposedly, if someone dies while in possession of a fraction of the Stone's power, they can seal their soul within their body to keep it from leaving this plane of existence. This comes at a price however, as the body is still dead. Physical movement can be achieved through the channeling of psynergy through the vodoun's corpse, but the heart is stopped, and the flesh will continue to rot. The vodoun would have all of the memories and personality of the person that it used to be, but it would be unable to feel and experience anything as the living do, and be forced to suffer a mindless half-existence. And this isn't even the worst of it."

"How could this _possibly _get any worse?" Garet asked.

"Vodoun are not like the undead that you have encountered in your travels across Weyard. The Grave Wights and other creatures are simply reanimated bodies. The chaotic nature of the psynergetic forces that raised them caused them to become agressive and attack anything they see. However, they have no soul and no mind of their own, making them easy to defeat."

"And ithat's/i the worst of it?" Garet asked tentatively.

"Hardly." Kraden replied. "The only thing worse than one vodoun, is many vodoun. The next theory states that if a powerful adept became a vodoun, they could learn to control the alchemic forces that create them, and force this fate upon others."

"So there could be more?" Felix asked.

"Yes."

"Ha!" Garet said. "I _told _you that the zombies were raising an army."

"Now is not the time Garet" Felix snapped.

"Actually he's not far off." Kraden said. "By gaining control of the magic that created the vodoun, someone could control the vodoun themselves."

"I destroyed it though," Jenna said. "What threat is it to us now?"

"That one in particular perhaps, but I fear that the threat is long from over."

"Tell us Kraden!" Isaac said. "Why would we have to worry about the abilities of something that we've already defeated?"

"If you honestly didn't think that it was still a threat, you wouldn't be here." Said Kraden knowingly. "The question that we must answer, is whether you destroyed the leader of the vodoun, or one of the subordinates. In order to ascertain that I would need to know more about the creature. Did he talk? Controlled vodoun are often given only a rudimentary intelligence, just enough so that they can follow verbal orders, but not so much that they might actually figure out what has been done to them. If I had some-"

Isaac interrupted him.

"The answer to that is obvious." He stated grimly.

"Is it?"

"He was a subordinate. Jacob died before anything that pertained to alchemy's release happened. Even Saturos' first raid on Sol Sanctum. There's no way that he could've been exposed to Alchemy while he was alive. Someone else resurrected him."

Isaac acted like he was holding something back while he spoke, but everyone knew that he had a good reason for not saying whatever it was, so they didn't think much of it.

"Well Isaac, you got what you came for. You now know as much about your new foe as I do, and you also know for certain that a larger threat still looms." Kraden looked out the window to see the sun edging ever closer to the horizon. "That may be a difficult prospect to sleep on, but it looks like you have few other options to choose from. You should go back to town and rest up for tomorrow's expedition."

-------

Isn't learning fun? But seriously let me know what you think. I didn't want my zombies to be all "Dawn of the Dead" cliches or anything.


	34. Chance Encounter

OMG I actually updated!  
In case you haven't noticed by the increasingly sad, pathetic, and positively hugegantic delays of late, life is being mean to me right now and I haven't had much chance to write. Graduation is in two weeks and I have one word to say about that:  
HAAAAAREEELGRARGREEEEAAAARRLLERERERRRRRBLRG!  
Well I feel better, on to the story!

Chapter 33:

The group left Kraden's home a bit overwhelmed, but at least with a better idea of what it was that they were facing. Isaac pondered their next move as they made their way back to town. He had been using his lack of knowledge of the situation to forestall planning further. Now that he had all the inside dirt on his new foe, he had to admit that the reason he wasn't thinking up a plan right now was because he had no idea of how to proceed. He still had faith in himself, but he knew that this wasn't going to be easy.

Isaac's considerations were interrupted by Seryn literally running into them. She had approached with a hurried and distracted walk, and had the misfortune of running into Garet. Seryn was thrown on her back even as Garet hardly broke stride. Garet extended a hand and hefted her from the ground. She dusted herself off and mumbled an apology before she looked up and saw who it was.

"Oh it's you!" She exclaimed. "Thank you so much for finding Kera!"

Before anyone could react, she practically lunged forward and wrapped Garet in a huge hug. This time he was knocked off balance a little, more from surprise than anything else. She even started to tear up a little before she realized what she was doing.

She pulled away from Garet.

"I'm sorry." She squeaked. "I've just been so worried. How is she?"

"She was attacked in the graveyard." Isaac said. "She will survive, but she's been through a lot. She'll need your support when she wakes up."

"I won't leave her side."

"We're going to do whatever it takes to make sure that this never happens to anyone again."

"Oh, bless you children. Bless you!"

She grabbed Isaac by the shoulders and kissed him on the forehead before tottering off towards the Sanctum again.

As they watched Seryn's flamboyant seafoam green dress fade into the distance, Felix sighed and said:

"I feel so sorry for her…"

"Seryn or Kera?" Garet asked.

"Yes."

"Good answer."

"That poor kid's father was a crazed zombie…"

"and hewas the _good_ parent!"

"Garet!" Jenna yelled, "Of all the time you've had to make stupid jokes you chose now? What would your father say?"

"What he always says," Garet mumbled. "'Scarring children for life isn't funny Garet. Now go to your room'"

"What was that?"

"Nothing! Uh, we'd better get going."

Isaac looked at the horizon. Garet was right. It was getting dark. There wasn't much that intimidated Isaac, but after what he had just heard from Kraden, he _really _didn't want to spend the night outside.

-------

This is way harder than it used to be, but it is not in me to withdraw and give up. Onward!


	35. The question

Thank God school is over. I may actually get to write something, like another eating chapter of barely perceptible plot-significance!

Chapter 34:

The arrived in town shortly and headed for Garet's by unspoken consent. They'd had a big breakfast, but they had been out all day and food was among the many provisions that they had forgotten in their haste. The door rattled as Garet swung it open. It appeared that Varik's exploits earlier this morning had loosened the hinges. Garet inspected the door jam for a moment.

"Can you fix it Jenna?" Garet asked.

She acted if such a question was an insult to her abilities.

"Of course I can." She said. "I'll just add it to the list of things that I don't know why I help you with."

"Great!" Garet replied.

He had learned that Jenna's sarcasm was a fact of life, and that she'd fix it, if only for a cost to be determined later.

"Have a seat everyone. I'll go whip something up."

No one saw anything wrong with that. The group sat down at the large table in the center of the room. Isaac looked down at the mound of breakfast dishes in front of him.

"We really should do something about these…" He said.

"Yeah…" said Felix. "We can't eat at a table like _this._"

He, Jenna, and Mia all got up and moved to another table.

"How thoughtful of you." Isaac said.

He disapproved, but their solution had a certain appeal to it. He reluctantly got up and went over to the new table.

As he sat down, Felix asked:

"So what's the plan Isaac?"

There it was, the question he had been dreading. How could he have let himself get distracted? He knew that they would look to him for guidance. Quickly he summoned all the knowledge that he had of his new foe and outlined his objectives. He had to protect the town, so they should stay here and defend it from attacks, but the town would be where their attackers were _going, _not where they came from. They had to go and fight them at their source. But where was that? There were his plans for a second expedition to the Graveyard, those couldn't be ignored since he only knew about Vodoun in general, and nothing about this specific case, this _only _case rather, Kraden said that this had never actually happened before…

Before Isaac could work out anything to say, Garet's heavy, lumbering strides could be heard approaching from the kitchen. He had somehow produced a rather respectable meatloaf in the short time that he had to work with. Of course, it was no mystery how Garet could easily heat things up fast even though he hardly ever used his oven. Only for slow roasts and things that he would get bored watching.

He set the pan on the table and went back to get plates and silverware. Isaac looked down at the large loaf in front of him. It was nothing special, a large mound of ground beef garnished with chopped onions around the serving plate and a thin glaze of some brownish sauce of secret origins on top. It looked a bit crumbly, but it still quite edible. Garet soon returned with the place settings before leaving to the kitchen a third time.

"What could he be getting now?" Isaac wondered.

He was soon answered as Garet returned holding a large axe. He leaned it up against the table as he sat down. He saw that everyone was giving him an unusual look and explained:

"I wanna have my new axe around, just in case."

Isaac looked down at the weapon that Garet had brought with him. It looked suspiciously like his old Stellar Axe, but with "ZOMBEE AXE" scribbled on the side in grease pencil.

"Stop staring at my axe!" Garet said. "Just eat. We've got a big day ahead."

They had to admit that they weren't terribly bothered by Garet's bringing an axe to the dinner table, as a matter for fact, it seemed like a perfectly ordinary thing if you thought about Garet for a minute or two. Although what he did with it in the kitchen remained a mystery…

Nonetheless, the adepts dug in to their savory meal. Garet hadn't really outdone himself, but they were all too hungry to care. As they ate, Felix eyed the axe leaning against the table.

"Ahh Garet," He said, knowing full well that he wouldn't hear him while distracted by food. "Smart as a tack that one."

"I think it's '_sharp_ as a tack' Felix." Jenna replied.

"I know what I said."

"Regardless, maybe Garet is on to something. It couldn't hurt to have our equipment around. I don't want to get caught unawares again."

"Jenna, I'd understand this kind of concern if we were out doing something stupid like traipsing around through a graveyard, but we aren't doing that until tomorrow."

"Felix, we were in real trouble up there. This might be the best… well the only _good_ idea that Garet has ever had."

"So you're going to run off to grab your Atropos' Rod and write 'Zombee Stick' on it?"

"I was thinking that 'Zombie Staff' sounds cooler, but yeah, it had occurred to me."

"Well, after dinner then. We wouldn't want to offend Garet by dashing off early."

Jenna looked over at Garet. He was clearly in a world of his own as he shoveled the huge pile of meat into his mouth bite by bite. She doubted that there was much that they could do that would perturb him at this point, but she thought better of it.

"Fine, but straight to the Forge after dessert."

"Dessert?"

Felix's question was answered in mere minutes as Garet finished eating, and retrieved a large blueberry pie from the kitchen. Garet always seemed to have pie on hand. It probably had something to do with the fact that his pies had to cool for several hours after he flash-broiled them in some excessively violent manner.

"It was sitting on the sill." He said. "Isaac, would you mind?"

Isaac wasn't sure what he was talking about until he sensed some large mineral deposits in the pie. He nodded and focused his mind on the pie. Slowly the surface of the pie crust shifted and several shards of broken glass levitated out of the delectable pastry. Isaac directed the berry juice-tinged shards into an empty cup nearby and once again looked to the pie. All that he could sense from within the pie was, well pie. So he deemed it safe to eat. It looked a bit worse for wear after being pelted with the fragments of a shattered window, and then having them psynergetically removed, but it still appeared to be a fine example of Garet's culinary prowess.

Despite Isaac's reassurances, everyone looked through their slice carefully for any unwelcome additives. Regardless of its history of abuse, everyone found their dessert quite delicious and it disappeared quickly even in light of the thorough searches it was getting. Isaac even found himself second-guessing his own abilities the way everyone regarded their plates so apprehensively, but he had yet to hear any ominous crunching, so his faith was restored.

As Mia dug through her slice and ate it with increasing confidence, she began to feel guilty about sticking Garet with the dishes. She thought for a moment and whispered something in Isaac's ear. He nodded and whispered to Jenna. She reluctantly agreed. She stood and said:

"Garet, we're going to do the dishes."

"Well it's about time," He said. "They've been sitting there all day!"

"Did you think that they were going to wash themselves?"

"Well how would I know if I never gave them the chance?"

Jenna sighed and walked out the back door with Mia.

Felix had been privy to none of the prior discussion, so he was wondering about their little plan.

"Just how are they helping if they're outside?" Felix asked.

My job is just to bring the dishes to them.

"Way to get stuck with the hard job." Garet said.

"It's not so hard as you might think." Isaac said. He stretched out his hands as they began to glow with psynergy and the dishes floated up into the air and formed a neat line going out the door. "Since they're all either metal or some sort of glass, I can levitate them with my Venus psynergy. It was that pie that gave Mia the idea"

Felix looked out the window and he could see that Mia was spraying the passing flatware with powerful jets of water that cleaned them to a shine. They passed over a gentle blaze crafted by Jenna that dried them instantly. After being dried, the dishes wobbled into a haphazard stack on the opposite side of the fire.

"Could you give me a hand with this?" Isaac asked. "My hands are full, in a manner of speaking.

Felix stood, adopting a psynergetic glow of his own as he floated the dishes through one of the broken kitchen windows and into the currently empty cupboards.

Garet sat back and watched the most interesting performance.

"You know we could do this every week." He said. "Dinner and a show, it'll be a hit!"

The dishes briefly shuddered as that less-than-tantalizing offer broke Isaac's concentration momentarily.

"Just kidding." Garet said. "Though I may need a little help. I seem to be breaking more stuff than usual lately…"

He eyed his stone fist on the table.

"Well I suppose that's not an unreasonable request." Isaac said. "As long as you keep the free food coming."

"Who said this was free?"

The shattering of a plate could be heard as Felix gaped at Garet. Isaac regained his composure and caught the rest of them before they hit the ground.

"It was worth the plate for the look on your face Felix!" Garet said. "Of course it's free! I wouldn't dream of charging you! Well I dream of charging Jenna sometimes, but that's besides the point."

Jenna's fingertips were still crackling with flame as she turned.

"What was that Garet?"

He knew that he had to change the subject fast, or Jenna would use her new drying method on his trousers.

"Uh, how do you dry the plates like that Jenna? Last time I tried that on a stack of plates I melted the half that didn't explode."

She shrugged and turned back to her work.

"One key difference." She said. "I didn't use Pyroclasm."

Isaac sat down at the table as he finished floating out the last of the dishes. Mia and Jenna came inside as well, followed by Felix after some final clanking of class and latching of cupboards.

And then, the question that had haunted Isaac returned.

"So what do we do now Isaac?"

-------

Pie, meatloaf, zombie weapons, psynergetic dishwashing, this chapter had something for everyone!

(Hey I've crossed the 50,000 word mark! Yay arbietrary milestones!)


	36. Troubled Night

The time indexes say that its been over a month since my last chapter. I'm very sorry about that, things just got real busy around graduation. This one's a short chapter, but if it's enough to let you know that I didn't die or something, then it served its purpose.

Chapter 35:

Since it had come from Garet, Isaac had expected that kind of simple bluntness in an inquiry. He had also expected that he would have to answer that question at some point. What he did not expect, was that he would have no answer when that time came. They couldn't just do _nothing. _Or perhaps they could, for now. Perhaps there were no better options.

Isaac breathed deeply and chose his words carefully.

"The threat that our new foe poses to town is imminent, but not immediate. Heading out to face it now would be foolish. Not only is fighting in the dark more technically difficult, it's much more unnerving when we face daunting odds."

A somber mood fell over the table. Isaac was momentarily worried that he had been too grave in his pronouncement, but he had never sugar-coated the truth to his friends before, and he wasn't about to start now.

"We'll return to our homes and rest. Then go to the Graveyard in the morning. Once there we will uncover all there is to know about our new adversary; and, as will undoubtedly be necessary, confront it."

None of them found this to be a terribly easy prospect to sleep on, but they could think of no alternatives. Silently they rose and left Garet's. The empty silence that remained in their stead, reflected the empty silence that crept into their souls as the grim visage of tomorrows task loomed over them. Nonetheless, the strain of an exhausting day allowed each of our heroes to find rest and let go of their cares for the night. Only Isaac was left lying awake, staring out his window into the darkness.

He never would've made it back to Kraden's before dark, so he imposed upon his parents for a place to sleep. Not much of an imposition really. Dora had never had the heart to get rid of Isaac's old bed.

Isaac's thoughts churned as the stars twinkled down at him through the window. So much had happened recently. His mind and body had both been kept quite occupied, the stream of his consciousness had been kept in constant motion, but now there was nothing. Nothing to do, nothing more to think and meditate upon. He was left alone with his apprehension, his worry and doubt, and they did not make good companions.

The angle of the stars outside his window signaled the rise and fall of midnight. Yet Isaac was still awake to watch them. Constellations drifted below the horizon as the restless hours passed.

He heard a rustle outside. He thought that he might just be hearing things, but it came again; a scuffing sound like someone walking in the dirt road outside. From the time that had passed, Isaac guessed that it must've been close to morning, but it was still pitch dark out. No one would be up this early unless they were up to something…

Isaac got out of bed. No need to change, he had slept in his clothes. Or at least he had tried to sleep, but that was behind him now. He had found something that needed doing. He was back in action. And as he crept through the house to the door, he had to admit that it felt good.

He stopped himself at the doorway. No, he was going to do it right this time. He went back inside and removed his Gaia Blade from the table that he had left it on yesterday. It had seemed like such an eternity away, yet the blade remained in the position he had carelessly tossed it into. Not the slightest fleck of dust had gathered on it, showing how little time had passed from the perspective of an object.

As he placed the empty scabbard back on the table, he thought of how lucky his trusted blade was. It didn't have the constant turmoil that emotions caused. It didn't have loved ones to worry about. It didn't have to fight a battle within itself every time there was a decision to be made.

He cradled the blade with his opposite hand and gazed into its depths, searching for the answers he so desperately needed. There was no tension, no indecision, no remorse to be found in its sleek surface; only the cold shine of the metal that was wrought to form it. The anticipation of the fight of its life did not make it shudder. Within this weapon, there was only the sense of a brief lull, before the next glorious combat. And when that battle ended, the role of the sword would be over. It had no place in dealing with the aftermath.

A new glimmer appeared on the surface of his blade. A tiny rough circle that bent the moonlight. A tear.

"My battle is never over." Isaac said.

The fragile drop was cast onto the floor as he turned around, brought his blade to the ready, and stepped through the door.

------

Wow, that was kinda emo... anyway, let me know what you think.


	37. Early to Rise

A new chapter! In half the time as before! I'm on a roll now.

This one gets kinda gory because, well... you'll see.

Chapter 36:

The moon was at Last Quarter, plenty of light for Isaac to get an idea of his surroundings. However, it was sound that he was focused on at the moment. Not only the rustling he had heard in the distance, but how much noise _he_ seemed to be making as he crept over the embankment in front of his parents' home. His every step seemed to echo through the crushing stillness, it was a wonder that he hadn't woken anyone up. In reality he had made barely a sound, but he was gripped by a nameless apprehension that magnified his every movement.

"HeeYA!"

Came the coarse yell across the empty streets, followed by a sickening crunch that Isaac instantly recognized as the crushing of bones. Without pausing to think he dashed off in the direction of the sound.

Lamps flickered in the widows of the homes that he was running past. Others had been awakened by the sound. But Isaac didn't need much light to recognize Steven swinging an incredibly large granite maul at the group of five ragged-looking people surrounding him.

As Isaac closed in, he noticed that they were not just ragged in their manner of dress, their bodies were torn to ribbons as well. And they were all in varying states of decay.

"Vodoun." Isaac whispered as he ran closer.

From the condition of his opponents, it appeared that Steven had fought bravely thus far. Shattered bones and the battered bodies of two defeated Vodoun littered the small town square where they were fighting. Steven's trusty maul had gained a thick coating of dried blood and flayed skin. His powerful blows landed with tremendous force, sending his targets flying, but the heavy weapon slowed his reaction time. So the crowd was still advancing steadily.

Isaac ran up behind the Vodoun nearest him and swung his blade in a savage downward strike to the top of its head. The blade sunk in deeply. The Vodoun abruptly halted its advance, but far from falling to the ground as Isaac had expected, it turned to face him with the blade still buried in its skull, tearing the hilt out of Isaac's hands. He quickly flung a stone spire at his foe with a thrust of his palm, but the Vodoun blocked it just as easily, catching and crushing it in one swift motion that Isaac would've thought the simple-minded beasts incapable of.

The small patches of remaining putrid skin on the creature's face stretched and snapped as it opened its mouth wide to launch a biting attack at Isaac. In a sudden shift that Isaac nearly mistook for an attack, the point of a sword burst from the Vodoun's mouth. As the now limp skeleton collapsed, Isaac saw that Steven had fought his way over and used his maul to hammer the Gaia Blade straight through the Vodoun's skull.

He had paid a price however, as the others had caught up with him. In no time at all a Vodoun was trying to rip the maul from Steven's hands. Another wrapped its arms around his neck from behind. Isaac grabbed the bloody hilt of his sword, hoping to wrench it free from the Vodoun's skull. There were gruesome cracking sounds as Isaac hefted his sword. He saw that the blade was still stuck, and that the head had come free from the body.

He swung his blade high above his head hoping to dislodge the fetid reminder of his last opponent. The skull flew off in a high arc, cracking against the skull of another Vodoun a few paces away, exaggerating his chaotic stumbling. Isaac knew that he would have to strike hard to break bone. That seemed to be the only way to disable them, but he couldn't risk hitting Steven, so he opted for the back one.

A powerful slash severed the Vodoun's shoulder. Steven felt the grip on his neck slacken and took it as an opportunity. He stopped pulling on the handle of the maul and instead lunged forward putting his weight onto it. The Vodoun in front was thrown to the ground as Steven landed hard on top of him, flipping the other over his shoulders by its one remaining arm.

Even this turn of events could not shake the unwavering determination of their attackers. The Vodoun were still pulling at Steven's weapon and clawing at his face with impunity. Isaac ran the one-armed Vodoun through the chest with his sword, pinning it to the ground. It still swung at Steven, and was quite within reach of him. Isaac knew that he would have to kill it.

He forced a surge of psynergy through his blade and into the ground. The earth responded violently. A pair of stone claws ripped out of the ground on either side of the blade, penetrating the Vodoun's chest from below and pulling sharply outwards, ripping it in half. Even as the claws relaxed and crumbled, Isaac found himself unable to pull his sword from the ground. He would have to think of another way to help Steven with the others.

Steven was still on top of one struggling for his weapon. Isaac extended his hand towards them and said "Growth."

Vines erupted on either side of the Vodoun and snaked their way around its arms. Isaac clenched his fist and the vines grew tight. The combined force of Steven and the vines finally overwhelmed the Vodoun and Steven ripped the handle from its wretched grasp. He stumbled backwards as the weight of the granite block at the end of the weapon set him off balance.

The Vodoun raged against the vines binding it to the ground. Isaac felt his psynergy being drained rapidly as he struggled to bolster them against the Vodoun's incredible strength. He knew that he couldn't keep this up any longer. His vision fogged as his mental reserves reached their limit. For the first time he noticed the fatigue that his sleepless night had left him with. He was dimly aware of Steven engaged in combat with the other remaining Vodoun.

He raised a sharp edge of stone about six inches up from the ground. He gave one final tightening of the vines to yank the Vodoun down onto the stone edge. His focus finally broke and the vines and stone crumbled, but the Vodoun had ceased its resistance, crumbling stone peeking out through its rent and cracked bones.

Isaac held his head as he tried desperately to regain his bearings. He squinted to see Steven still swinging away at the last Vodoun. This one seemed to be faster than the others. A blow that would've pounded any other Vodoun into the ground like a tent spike was somehow easily dodged and reduced to a glancing blow to the shoulder. It didn't help that the attacks had slowed pace considerably by now. Isaac could see that Steven didn't have many swings left in him either. Perhaps if they combined their last effort…

Steven reeled backwards from a punch to the chest. Grunting heavily, but pausing only for a brief moment before readying his weapon again.

"Steven wait!" Isaac yelled.

Steven didn't know what Isaac had planned, but this clearly wasn't working, so he held his maul poised over his shoulder as the Vodoun trudged towards him.

"NOW!" Isaac yelled. The sole of his boot flashed briefly as he stomped hard on the ground. Solid-footed Steven remained firmly rooted as he took is cue to swing. The comparatively light bag-of-bones he was fighting however was bucked into the air by the violent tremor. As it hung aloft briefly, it was unable to dodge Steven's attack. The force of the impact hurled it across the square. It smashed against a nearby tree with a clatter of scattered bones.

The maul finally fell from Steven's hands with a heavy thud. As he stared ahead and tried to catch his breath he said simply:

"…Morning… Isaac."

-------

Wooooo Gratuitous zombie-smashing! Hey, that would make a great name for a band...


	38. Bedside Manner

Yes it's me. Yes I really am continuing after three months absence, and no, it was not easy for me to do. I've seen so many great fics go unfinished, and though now I have a whole new understanding of their plight, I don't want to be one of those authors. I just thought I'd make up a chapter as a Christmas present for those of you who haven't given up on me. (If indeed, such people do exist...) No real word I can give on future chapters. I know that Christmas break is going to be my best shot at writing another one, but I've also got to get together with my friends and family to catch up while I'm home too. We'll see how it goes.

Chapter 37:

"You gonna live Isaac?"

He heard Steven ask.

"I… will be fine."

He found himself doubting his answer as he sat on his knees cradling his head. Switching from the battle within to the battle before him was a tremendous strain on his mind. He wondered briefly if he had been hurt in the fight, but as he flipped through his memories of the conflict, no severe hits came to mind. The pain was his own doing.

Isaac was no stranger to mental fatigue. In his early studies of psynergy after the storm so long ago he had often overexerted himself, trying to make his skills as sharp as his blade. He cursed himself for being unable to find rest since last night's encounter. His troubled mind just didn't have the focus to cast psynergy without severely draining itself.

During his studies, Kraden had once told him that the mind never really gains more capacity for psynergy. Powerful adepts have merely learned to tap into it more efficiently through focus and discipline, gaining control rather than more power. Right now Isaac felt like his mind was about as efficient as a steam-powered pancake-flipper.

"Urhg… can't even think up a good metaphor anymore…"

He mumbled as the sound of footsteps running into the square met his ears. A scream momentarily snapped him out of his mental fog. He tried to rise to his feet and ready for an attack, but a hand on his shoulder kept him on his knees.

"It's alright Issac."

The calm, confident sound of Felix's voice greeted him.

"Just someone who's a little freaked out by all the gore."

He glanced about briefly.

"I can hardly blame them."

Isaac strained to look up. He could see why. Even through the predawn gloom he could see that they had made quite a mess in the quiet little square. Scattered flakes of dried blood and rotten skin had been rolled around in the dirt by the fight and by the footsteps of people crowding into the square trying to figure out what was going on. That was exactly Jenna's question when she arrived.

"What the heck happened to you guys?" She asked as she approached.

"Vodoun." Isaac said. "Heard Steven fighting."

He looked up towards Steven a few paces away. He was on a knee, leaning on his bloodied maul. Mia was there healing his injuries. She had said nothing to any of them. Her healer's instincts were temporarily overriding her concern for Isaac, as a large amount of the blood on the ground surrounding Steven was of the fresh and living variety.

"That's everyone," Felix observed as he took stock of the growing crowd of confused villagers. "Well, almost everyone…"

"You had better have a good reason fo- Holy Crap!"

"_That's _everyone." Jenna said as Garet's obnoxious, lumbering strides could be heard echoing through the woods.

"What happened?" He asked when he got to them.

"Take a guess." Felix said as he gestured to the carnage in the square.

One glance and Garet immediately concluded:

"Zombies."

He raised his now ever present 'Zombiee Axe' to the ready.

"I wouldn't worry about it Garet." Felix said. "They seem pretty harmless now. What I'm interested in what these corpses were doing when they were still up and about."

"You'd have to ask Steven." Isaac said, slowly regaining his composure. "He arrived first. I came in during the fight."

Jenna and Garet looked at him in indecision.

"Go on, ask him." He said. "Standing here eyeballing me won't do any good."

Steven attempted to stand and Mia spoke for the first time as they approached.

"Not yet." She said, barely acknowledging them as she forced her patient to hold still with a strength and assertiveness that she didn't show terribly often. "He's hurt pretty badly."

"I'm not an infant Mia." Steven's stern growl sounded. "A few scrapes won't keep me from explaining this to those that most need to know."

"This is hardly a few scratches Steven!"

"I'd like a second opinion on that."

"I think I can see one of your bones…" Garet said.

Mia was the last person that one would expect to give anyone a look that could kill, but the dagger-gaze she shot Garet would've turned away a pack of wolves.

Jenna yanked on his ear and harshly whispered:

"Don't tell him that! He'll go into shock. You're supposed to try to _comfort_ him."

"Oh, but umm… it looks fine?"

As he laughed, Steven's hand slipped down the bloody handle of his maul and he slumped forward. He tossed up a few rather violent coughs.

"Urgh… Ow, needed that though."

"Don't strain yourself." Mia chastised again.

"I wouldn't worry, it's always been my dream to die laughing."

Mia tightened her grip on his arm.

"Geyah! Ok, bad choice of words. I won't die I promise."

"I'll say." She said. She seized the opportunity of this distraction to swiftly yank the bone fragment from Steven's arm. Even the iron-stomached Jenna cringed at this.

Garet sheepishly asked:

"Erm… I don't do much healing, but doesn't he _need_ that?"

"It's just as well that he have it removed." Mia said as she examined the sharp bone shard. "It's not his. It must've belonged to one of _them_."

The bloody shard landed with a clatter among its familiars on the ground nearby and Mia retuned to tending Steven's wounds. Isaac had managed to collect himself in the interim. He and Felix approached the unusual scene.

"I think you'll find no shortage of people that want an explanation Mia." Steven said.

She looked about at the growing crowd of confused and worried onlookers.

"Fine, tell them if you must, but you can do it sitting down." She pulled him up and swung his legs in front of him with some help from Felix and returned to her work.

The eerie light of Mia's ever-present Ply flickered across Steven's face as he recanted his morning. He looked up at the crowd around him, who by now realized that he would have some answers.

"Well, I suppose I shall begin at the beginning…"

--------

Yeah, I'm mean for doing that. Didn't really say much story-wise, but it's still a solid chapter. Much better than I expected when I resumed work a few weeks ago. By all means comment. Whether on the story or regarding my increasingly humiliating absences, say _something_.


	39. Troubling Developments

Well, after two years, count 'em. _Two years_ I am announcing my triumphant return to fan fiction writing. Yeah, sweet annoncement. Sounds way better than the "I found Chapter 38 on an old laptop I was looking at while I was home on leave and forgotten that I had written it" that I considered in the rough draft. What does this mean for the future? Only time will tell.

Chapter 38:

Steven recounted the most eventful morning to those assembled.

"Working late at night is no strange thing for me. I like the stillness. I suppose after all those years of working out in the forest alone for days at a stretch got me accustomed to it."

Steven could see that these were not the details his audience was looking for.

"In any case, I was driving in support beams for the new cottage we're building across the square. Simple enough job. Enough whacking with a big heavy object and you've got a solid foundation. Easy to get distracted when you've been at it long enough though. I was taking a moment's respite and just happened to glance over into the trees at the edge of town. And there was one of them shuffling along as they do. I've seen more than one stray undead about in the woods. Lots of them got stirred up by the storm and the eruption all those years ago, but this one was different. He had a purpose in his eyes. Undead not being the most subtle or intellectual sort, that purpose was quite clear to me. He was heading for the Mayor's house."

"I told you the zombies were after me." Garet said.

"Shut up." Jenna said. "What was so important about that?"

"Nothing in itself. Yet the fact that this undead was thinking, planning, picking a target specifically, made it an extreme threat. One I knew I had to deal with."

"You attacked it?" Felix asked.

"Enough whacking with a big heavy object and it ceased to be a problem."

"And yet it appears that we all didn't live happily ever after. What happened next?"

"The noise attracted the attention of another one. He managed to put it all together in the time it took me to get over to the other side of the square where he came out of the woods. He let out something like a low rattle. I didn't think much of it, but it must've been some kind of signal. I was surrounded after just a short scuffle with that one."

Isaac had stumbled over to the rest of the group in the interim. A vague plan had take shape in his slowly clearing mind. He had to use this chance to gain some tactical information for his inevitable battle with this new threat. The vodoun had struck first. Their enemy was no longer a far off menace that could be tended to when they were ready. The concerns of the townspeople could wait. He had to get something he could use, quickly.

"Did you notice anything unusual about their formation, or their fighting style?" Isaac asked.

"Plenty. Physically they attack just like any other undead. They launch very single-minded physical attacks with impunity. It was the group dynamic that worried me. Normally a group that size would just all rush me at once. In that tangle of rotten limbs I would've done all right. Half of them might've been accomplishing something, but the other half would be getting in the way or disrupting their purpose in some other fashion. These ones though… They were organized."

The party exchanged glances. Even Mia looked up from her ministrations. They all knew that this was very serious. Undead were, in some ways, very difficult to stop. They had neither pain nor death to fear, making them among the most persistent foes. But their chief weakness that kept them from being more than a mere nuisance _was_ their singular focus on attacking. It made them very easy to outsmart. They wouldn't take cover if you were launching a powerful attack, nor notice if you were leading them into a trap, but now it appeared that they had gotten over that weakness. That spelled trouble.

"That nimble one, the last one we finished off together. He was the most unusual of all. He came on scene and summoned all the others, and hung back from the fight to direct them. I could see what was going on. He'd have a few wait with him and watch for an opening to strike, and then send one in when he saw it. I picked up on it, but there was little I could do to combat their strategy against such numbers."

Isaac couldn't believe his ears. The undead using _strategy?_ It was unthinkable. Garet, being as always astutely observant of the obvious, asked:

"But you killed that one that was leading them. Isaac, didn't you say that if we got the leader our problems would be over?"

That was true, but Isaac had his doubts about this one.

"Could it talk Steven?" He asked.

"What?"

"The one that led them, did it talk at all?"

"Not with words really. He directed his troops with those grumbling sounds he made and a few blunt gestures."

"He wasn't the leader. Kraden said that the leader would be smart enough to talk."

"He still led them though" Garet persisted.

"You can lead without being the overlord of a whole army."

"Are you saying that he was some kind of Lieutenant?" Steven asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

The gain of new knowledge about his foe had strengthened his resolve. Isaac rose to his feet before continuing.

"Their hierarchy is much more complex than I had anticipated. Someone outside these few assembled this little raiding party."

"How do you figure?" Felix asked.

"One of them was heading to Garet's home. That means it was after him, which means they're probably after all of us. We fought seven. That's one for each of us, a scout, and one more to lead the group. Someone thought this out; someone capable of a little more than angry grunts and arm waving."

Isaac had his suspicions about who this someone might be, but he kept them to himself for the moment. He felt stupid to say it, but all that analytical thought had put a strain on his already overworked mind.

"I wonder if this is how Garet always feels." Isaac mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I said uh… It looks like Steven is well enough to stand."

Steven did look to be getting restless on the ground with all this attention, and his wounds had healed largely. The group helped him to his feet.

"Thanks. Anyway, that's where Isaac showed up. I think you saw just about everything of importance that happened after that, so I won't bother going through that with you."

With her first patient on the mend, Mia's attention turned to Isaac. She looked him over and used her psynergy to look for unseen injuries.

"You seem to have fared quite well Isaac." She said.

Her psynergy had told her that, but her instincts told her otherwise. Something was troubling Isaac, but she doubted that Ply would fix it. Mia had always hated feeling so powerless when there were emotional wounds that her skills were so useless against. She was healing with the power of her mind, so why couldn't she heal the minds of others? In all her studies of healing psynergy she could never find the answer.

"Nothing I've got will fix his mind." She thought. As she shifted uneasily at the thought, two psynergy crystals clanked together in her bag. "It's worth a shot I suppose."

She brought out one of the crystals and released its energy onto Isaac. The crystal vanished with a flash and Isaac felt the surge of power enter his mind, finally blasting out the fog that the recent combat had left him in. He relished in the newfound clarity, as his friends probably expected him to produce a plan of action sometime soon…

---------

I thought there was really no point in having this if I wasn't going to throw it out there onto this great web of ours. We'll see how continued writing goes. I gotta dig out the rest of this story form the various places I have different revisions saved. Even I don't remember what's going on anymore.

Coming up is my next big deployment to the USS George Bush. She might still be in drydock at Newport as part of her shakedown cruise though, I'll have to look into that. It might buy me some time. Just don't hold your breath. You'll end up passing out and getting a concussion from hitting your head on the coffee table. Hypothetically...


	40. Embattled

And so, improbably, I soldier on. I'm not sure whether it would be more pathetic to quit or continue on at this point, but the second option still sounds more fun. I've actually found myself with a decent amount of spare time on the USS George H.W. Bush. A lot more than I'd had in training these last 18 months. That is to say, I actually have some to speak of. I probably should've been using that to write instead of the route I took. This chapter may or may not have been saved on the ship's LAN from a workcenter computer in engineering, which may or may not make your Leading Crew Chief really pissed at you. In any case, I managed to sneak it off the network drive and now I present it to you.

Chapter 39:

The request for a plan of action came, but not from where he expected. Garet's father had pushed through the crowd to speak to Isaac.

"I hear that you've been studying these ghouls." He said. "What do you propose that we do to defend ourselves against them?"

Isaac was so preoccupied with coming up with a plan for himself and his friends he almost didn't hear what the mayor said.

"Wait, who is 'we'?" He asked.

"Why everyone around you of course!" The Mayor responded with a smile truly unbefitting of the occasion. "We're not helpless much as you would like to think us to be. You've got to get the weight of the world off your shoulders my boy. There are many adepts in this town of noteworthy strength and it would be just a _fine_ kettle of fish if we had them all sitting on their hands when another attack like this one happened."

Moments ago on the verge of feeling back to normal, Isaac mentally slapped himself for being so ignorant. He had put the burden of defending the town on himself, when there were plenty of able-bodied men about who could take the task upon themselves. A rough slap on the back shook Isaac out of his contemplations.

"Well don't just stand there son!" A strong voice from behind him said. "The mayor just asked you a question."

Isaac turned to see his father standing proudly behind him, still holding a shortsword that appeared to have been torn from the decorative coat of arms above the fireplace at home.

"Dad!" Isaac gasped, unable to think of anything else to say. "Uhh, where's-"

"Your Mother remained at home. It's not that she's not worried; she worries like nobody's business. I think she gets a gray hair every time you leave the house. She just thought it best for her to hear the news rather than see it in the event that something bad happened to you."

Well now he knew nothing was wrong at home. That was completely typical of mom…

"You'd best go and give her the good news."

"Not before I hear how we're going to react to this whole incident." Kyle beamed. Isaac knew he was going to have to come up with something good. His dad had always been so proud of his leadership ability. Defending a town was not his area of expertise though…

"But I have someone at my disposal who _does_ know quite a bit about that." He thought as he regarded the Mayor still patiently waiting for his answer.

"What would you do if we were under siege from a mundane enemy?" He asked.

The plans for such an attack were well established, and the Mayor expertly summarized them.

"Gather everyone with strong enough steel and psynergy to serve as a guard and post them at different points around the perimeter of the town. When we work out how many guards we have we determine how big of an enclosure they can monitor effectively, and evacuate people out of any areas we can't cover."

"And if an attacker approaches?"

"Well, experience has proven it's effective against minor foes to simply stand an alert watch and fight whatever creature approaches."

"But, as you no doubt observed, these are no minor foes."

"Indeed. What to you propose?"

Isaac looked around the uncomfortably crowded square. If there was one thing that seemed to be within the power of the citizens of vale, it was creating a large mob quickly. Perhaps he could use that to their advantage.

"Fighting them alone obviously won't work. Steven was overwhelmed and he's probably the strongest man in Vale."

Steven's chest swelled at that. He never really was much of a show off. His strength resulted from the nature of his work. A good day's work is something anyone can be proud of, but Steven never sought to draw attention to himself for just doing his job. The uncharacteristic display resolved itself soon enough. He was quickly brought back down to earth as the action of buffing out his chest caused a sharp stab of pain in his shoulder, and even further humbled by a sharp scolding from Mia.

But Isaac had allowed himself to become distracted. He returned to the subject at hand. "You'll need to signal for help if you get attacked."

"What manner of signal?"

Isaac hadn't thought of that. "Word of mouth seems to have brought out the whole town well enough."

Though there appeared to be popular agreement with that, Felix felt it necessary to voice his concerns.

"You were fighting for several minutes Isaac." He said. "Most of us didn't show up until after the fight was over. That leaves plenty of time for a guard to get himself killed, or worse." There was a handful of speculation on what he meant by 'or worse' before Felix continued. "We'll have to have a bigger focus on summoning help."

"And leave more time for the Vodoun to summon help? They know the value of teamwork too."

Steven straightened up to speak. "I learned the hard way that you've got to shut them up before they can call their friends."

"Valid." Felix reasoned. "What we need is a system that will allow us to get help fast, without delaying immediate response to an intruder. If I may?"

He deferred to Isaac, an unexpected courtesy that made him grin a little before nodding to give Felix the go-ahead.

"Each guard will have a lantern, and will be positioned such that he can see the light of the guards on either side of him. When an enemy approaches, the guard that sees him will extinguish his lamp and immediately go to fight him. If you see a lamp go out, raise the alarm and go to help the guard that the lamp belonged to."

Isaac was impressed with the simple elegance of Felix's plan. By having one guard to respond immediately and separate ones to get help, he eliminated any excess delay in either event happening. He now saw the wisdom of the Mayor's words. Deferring to his friends wasn't a compromise of his authority. In fact it made him and even better leader by allowing everyone to bring their strength and capability to the table. This wasn't exactly an appropriate time to open up the floor to suggestions, but he bet that his friends had some. They had all been listening intently to what was going on. Well most of them anyway. Garet had simply greeted his Father and spent most of the rest of the time uneasily eyeing Kyle's weapon of opportunity. Isaac figured he would start there. If there was something obvious that they had missed, it was likely that Garet had picked up on it. "Here's hoping that 'keen observer of the obvious' won't be a bad thing this time." Isaac thought.

"Something troubles you Garet?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah," He said, not even looking up from Kyle's blade. "How are these guards going to be armed? I've learned recently that fighting with your hands is pretty tough."

A quick glance around the crowd proved Garet totally right. The pitchforks, bats, machetes and other tools brandished by those assembled were hardly proper weapons, and he didn't see a scrap of armor on anyone. He knew a few out there were experienced warriors, judging by a few true blades that he saw, but whether or not they still had their armor remained to be seen. Falling back on the strength of another once again Isaac turned around to face his friends.

"Jenna?" He said. "You're the expert at getting people properly equipped."

She thought briefly, though it was hardly necessary, everyone knew that she kept very accurate track of her stock.

"There's a Tolbi-bound case of weaponry that hasn't shipped yet."

"You have anything other than pink battleaxes?" Garet asked.

"Yes!" She snapped. "I could have a few dozen armed to the teeth within the hour if you'll send them to me."

There was a general murmur of satisfaction at that.

"Of course it's been tough thanks to recent… complications." She glanced snidely at Garet. She overheard the Mayor ask his son what that was all about and received a 'don't you dare' look from Garet. There was no doubt that the thought had occurred to her to explain _exactly _what she was talking about, but now was not the time to indulge old grudges. Besides, she had long ago grown out of tattling to someone's parents when they did something she didn't like. She was a young woman now and she had much more devious ways of exacting revenge.

Whatever excuse Garet made up his father dismissed it in favor of more important matters. He began organizing the crowd in order to put their new plan into action.

"You've all shown up clearly unprepared. Everyone return to your homes and array yourselves properly if such can be done. Those of you who will not be joining the guard remain in your homes. If you are going to be defending Vale, meet me back here when you are better prepared."

The din created by people hustling around to ready themselves and the Mayor giving orders quickly broke through the silence of the early morning. The adepts grouped together so that they could hear as they decided their own plan of action.

"All right," Isaac said. "Everyone has weighed in on this plan so you all shouldn't have a problem with it. Well everyone except… Mia! Out with it! Whatever is bothering you just say so before we get too far along in this grand scheme of ours."

Mia was taken aback by Isaac's tone and more than a little embarrassed that her mood had been so transparent. But she had to admit that his needed to be said and even questioned what stayed her tongue until now.

"Everyone!" She spoke with such a commanding air that there was near silence almost immediately. "I know that there aren't many water adepts in Vale, but I'd have anyone with a great affinity for healing meet me at the town hall. We'll set up an infirmary there to handle the injured."

Following a brief pause to ensure that Mia was finished, the Mayor resumed.

"Excellent idea. Well what are you waiting for? Time is a factor now. Every second we spend here is one that our home remains undefended."

That seemed to set everything in motion quite nicely. Everyone seemed to move with a purpose, no matter what their vocation everyone seemed to have a role in defending their community and were more than willing to fulfill it.

"Sorry." Mia said. "It's just that if we lose physicians on the front line it's a double whammy. There's destruction and no one left to pick up the pieces."

"I never said I had a problem with you speaking Mia" Isaac said. "I can seal up a cut or two in a pinch but I would never claim your level of expertise."

Mia blushed slightly at that, but there was no more time for such things. Down to business.

"Should we go to the sanctum and tell the Great Healer we need him to come with us?" Felix asked.

Isaac considered it. That was his original plan. He glanced about at his friends. All of them were carrying their weapons, apparently the graveyard fight with Jacob was a lesson well learned. Could they go now? No, circumstances had changed and they needed to be flexible.

"We'll tell him, but not for that reason. We're past the point of further investigation. We've got to strike."

"Strike what?" Jenna asked. "We still don't know where these things are coming from."

"Likely the same place that the first one did." Felix interjected. "From the grave."

"Indeed." Replied Isaac. "We'll start at the graveyard and work from there."

He was about to go into more detail when he was beckoned from across the now mostly deserted square. A similar huddle had formed over there composed of the Mayor, three village elders, and a few people that had been chosen to lead sections of the guard. Steven had remained over with the group simply by virtue of his mobility being slow to return to him.

"Why are we in separate camps my boy?" The Mayor called. "We fight on the same side you know."

The adepts wordlessly agreed that this was a good point and joined the others as they talked and scratched a map of Vale into the dirt. Isaac recognized the complaints coming from one of the elders as belonging to Velash, a grizzled old veteran of several past wars. Regardless of such objections, the Mayor was continuing with his rundown of the town's defensive plans as they approached.

"We'll have the heaviest guard on the North side of town towards the densest forest, and here where they came through before. I doubt that they'll come in by way of the front gate. Have everyone that is reporting for duty go through Jenna's shop to get properly equipped."

Garet whispered gruffly as his father rambled on.

"Thanks for not ratting me out Jenna"

"No problem." She replied. "I'll just add it to the list of things you owe me for."

She withdrew a piece of paper from her pocket.

Garet balked at that. "You actually keep a list?"

"Relax. it's just an inventory from my shop. If you were listening to your father you'd know that he was talking about me outfitting everyone. The logistics of which I've yet to properly work out."

"I was listening! Watch: Hey dad," The eyes of those assembled all turned to Garet. "I've noticed that there are a lot of people that know how to cast ward and resist in a pinch. Make sure you have some of them cast those on all the guards. Some of these things can use psynergy."

A positively jovial Mayor responded: "That's my boy! You'll make a great leader yet."

He was allowed a moment of basking in pride before the discussion returned to fortifying the town. The attention no longer on him, Garet took the opportunity to stick his tongue out at Jenna. For some reason she resisted the temptation to describe the exact incident that led to him coming across this information. Perhaps she didn't want their rivalry to escalate to the point where it would interfere with the important plans they were making. She had always been the more sensible of the two when it came to knowing when to call it quits.

Felix leaned over to Isaac.

"Never thought I'd see the day." He whispered. "Those two using their rivalry for good instead of evil."

Isaac, still awed by the amount of great ideas coming from his friends could only muse quietly.

"Crisis makes heroes of us all…" He said. "I can only hope it's enough."

His attention was caught by a lantern off in the trees. Someone happened to have one with him and they were testing how far the light could be seen.

"That's no good Ferro!" Steven yelled. "Try leaning to the other side of the tree!"

A brief blink was seen, but the light remained obscured for the most part.

"That's as far you can go then, what's your pace?"

"Thirty-eight!" Came the answer from the woods.

"Thirty eight paces!" The mayor practically yelled. "That's less than half the distance we would normally post guards at. We'll need twice as many people. That means no sleep for most of them. I don't know how long we can hold out like that."

An indecisive silence followed as a few remaining scratches with a stick finished off the perimeter around vale.

"That is a lot of ground to cover." Isaac said.

"Maybe that's the problem." Felix replied. "If we make a smaller perimeter we can do it with less people. We could save half a dozen if we cut out this sawmill."

He extended his had over the map and the line shifted as he described. Garet and Jenna both mouthed 'show off.'

"I see what you're saying." The Mayor said. "We could trim this perimeter down a lot. Like here, don't follow the fenceline, cut straight across. A fence doesn't provide us much advantage in this type of fighting anyway."

The stick-wielding Lieutenants of the guard updated the map as he spoke.

"We could cut this corner and evacuate the Wheaton farmstead here. We're already light on the front gate. We could tighten that up even more by moving the line back behind the Grotto of the Psynergy Stone…"

"We'd best not let them gain access to that Mayor." Isaac interjected. "I'd hate to think what they'd do with that kind of power."

"And we'll need it to stay fresh and focused when guarding or fighting." One of the elders said.

"Yes, yes agreed. We're going to have to make the cut somewhere though."

They all peered down at the revised map. One large projection still stood out from the edge. Garet was the first to speak of it.

"We could save like forty guys by cutting out the Sanctum."

"Are you mad?!" An elder yelled. "The Sanctum is where we'll make our last stand!"

"I don't plan on getting conquered Velash." The Mayor replied. "Let's hear him out."

"All I'm saying is that the only thing in the Sanctum that's valuable besides the healers themselves is a bunch of old books and stuff."

"That 'bunch of old books' is the culmination of a LIFETIME OF"

"VELASH!" Felix interjected. "You have yet to come up with a better solution. And besides, these creatures are not interested in vandalizing the Sanctum's library."

There was a brief silence as Velash glared at Felix in disbelief. To speak so to an elder was unheard of.

"Why you insolent little-"

Isaac knew that a reminder of the urgency of their situation would be in order to keep this from delaying them even further. He had to cut off Velash's tirade quickly and as congenially as possible. Now was positively the worst possible time for them to be fighting amongst themselves.

"It's settled then." Said Isaac calmly. "The great healers and anyone else from the Sanctum will be evacuated to Mia's infirmary. We'll just explain it to them when we go up there so that they can be ready to leave. Their talents will be of more use in town anyway."

Velash was sour, but their solution preserved the safety of the town, so he withheld his objections.

"I trust you side with the children Mayor?" He asked.

"Given their track record I see no reason not to trust their judgment." He said in a stern tone that sharply contrasted his earlier jocularity.

"Very well." He croaked. "Just make sure you seal the doors up tight when you leave the sanctum."

"Of course." Isaac said.

"Excellent." The Mayor said, his voice lightening once again. "We only need to cut another fifteen or twenty guards. Let's have another look at some of these outlying properties."

Isaac peered over the rudimentary map. Surely there was a proper one in the town hall they could use... Oh, scratch that. The old records kept there would've referred to the old Vale. Most people were familiar enough with the construction of Vale regardless. After all they had been the ones to spend the last few years rebuilding the place. He tried to divine what each of the little boxes meant. There was home. Isaac could almost see a little stick-figure Dora inside pacing nervously. Despite the situation he smiled at the thought as his eyes wandered over the miniature Vale. That one was the house that Felix's parents lived in. They rebuilt it on the same spot it had been. They never learned did they… Regardless, cutting it wouldn't really save that many people. There was Jenna's armory closer to the center of town. Certainly not, they'd need that. Another farmstead, that's a possibility. What was that one to the far west? Oh of course, it was Kraden's lab…

Isaac gasped. "No…"

"Isaac what-"

"KRADEN!" He yelled before running off down the path.

----------------

Yep, still got it. That was a great addition to my trophy case of annoying cliffhangers. Still not a lot happening in this one, but I do loves my expositions. *Sigh* I should've just ended it with Alex dying and been done with it. Now it's the story that refuses to die instead of the bad guy. Ah well, I created this beast. Now it is my responsibility. I'll try not to work on it while I'm supposed to be defending your freedom.


End file.
